Today’s Liverpool FC transfer column covers the latest developments with the Reds appearing close to completing their first summer departure.
Inter now appear set to acquire Curtis Jones after identifying the Liverpool-born midfielder as their primary target for the engine room this summer.
Well, it appears to be over. Whatever your view on Curtis Jones – and, let’s be honest, everyone has had ample time to form one – it will be a melancholy occasion when the last Scouser in Liverpool’s starting eleven leaves the club he joined at the age of nine.
That day may be today (Aug 19). Fabrizio Romano delivered what has become his customary confirmation post on X (Twitter) just after midday, and subsequent reports from Italy and elsewhere have stated that Inter have agreed to a €30m initial fee for the 25-year-old with €4m to €5m in potential extras (£30m + £3.4m to £4.3m), with Jones having already agreed personal terms with the Italian champions.
We will examine where talks stand and when an official announcement might come, before considering what lies ahead for Liverpool’s midfield with under two weeks until the transfer window closes.
Another piece of business along the M6 corridor could have consequences for Jarell Quansah and any potential Anfield return, while another South American prodigy has emerged as the Reds continue targeting the game’s most exciting prospects directly.
At this stage of the summer, emerging stories can easily get lost as new headlines appear constantly. As always, though, we have everything you need to know from the transfer market covered.
Join us as we compile all the latest gossip and rumours in the Liverpool transfer column.
Jones departure and Liverpool’s midfield future
It says much about Curtis Jones’ Liverpool career that despite not being a guaranteed starter, his likely exit has prompted considerable concern.
This is largely due to Liverpool’s clear shortage of options across several positions where Jones has offered crucial versatility in recent months, but it also reflects Jones’ significance as a Liverpool player.
When he broke into the periphery of Jurgen Klopp’s first exceptional side as a teenager, Jones was celebrated in a manner few academy graduates had been over the previous two decades.
While Klopp’s work in refining Jones’ unpredictable tendencies was praised as the inventive attacking midfielder/winger developed into a disciplined and press-resistant number eight, the Toxteth-born player never quite fulfilled the abundant potential he possessed at Liverpool.
Despite that, Jones established himself as invaluable – covering three midfield roles and consistently fighting for his spot, before functioning effectively as an auxiliary right-back during Arne Slot’s final season at the club.
That now appears to have been Jones’ last season at Liverpool, with Fabrizio Romano announcing a breakthrough in his move to Inter with his characteristic confirmation.
Romano disclosed that a medical is already in the process of being arranged for Jones, while the original Italian transfer specialist – Gianluca Di Marzio – subsequently provided details on the fee structure Romano reported as totalling €35m (£34.3m).
According to Di Marzio, the transfer sum will consist of €30m upfront with €4-5m in add-ons (£30m + £3.4m to £4.3m). La Gazzetta dello Sport have gone with €30m+€5m, while additionally claiming that an official announcement is anticipated in the coming hours.
The ECHO, along with James Pearce at The Athletic, understands a deal is thought to be close although no final agreement has been reached yet.
Nevertheless, Jones’ departure is now the anticipated outcome – which raises questions about how Liverpool replace the 25-year-old ahead of the new season.
As covered in yesterday’s column, journalist David Lynch (via Anfield Index) has indicated that, based on his information, there is almost no chance of the Reds signing a replacement for Jones in the market, with 19-year-old Trey Nyoni expected to be given the opportunity as Liverpool’s fourth-choice central midfielder.
There is also Wataru Endo available as a more defensive-minded option within the squad, while James McConnell’s proposed loan move to Preston North End is currently on hold – potentially with the aim of keeping the 21-year-old as an additional homegrown choice.
Stefan Bajcetic is unlikely to be in contention after completing pre-season work on a separate programme and in recent days having attracted interest from LaLiga side Getafe.
Further back, new centre-back loanee Ronald Araujo made six appearances at right-back for Barcelona last season and is regarded as a strong one-v-one defender in wide areas.
Jeremy Jacquet and Joe Gomez, when fully fit, can both cover Jeremie Frimpong during Conor Bradley’s absence, while natural right-back Calvin Ramsay remains at the club despite speculation about a possible loan move.
In short, Liverpool appear to believe they possess sufficient resources to avoid returning to the market for a midfielder, though this may be influenced by the difficulty of replacing a homegrown player when the Reds already face the prospect of omitting several non-homegrown players from their Champions League squad to meet UEFA regulations.
Perhaps homegrown alternatives available – such as Adam Wharton, who prompted renewed speculation about a Liverpool move after successfully bidding on eBay for a signed Gerrard shirt from Istanbul 2005 – have been considered either too expensive or the wrong profile for Andoni Iraola.
Either way, not directly replacing Jones with a new signing would unquestionably be a risk given the levels displayed by Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch last season and Nyoni’s inexperience.
Some reassurance for the more anxious readers might come from Vinny O’Connor’s assessment for Sky Sports, who recently suggested one would expect a replacement to be signed if Jones departed.
Currently, though, there are limited options on the market at a price Liverpool would likely want to pay, and it is entirely possible the Reds are once again left thinner in a crucial area by the end of the summer.
Liverpool set to avoid Quansah embarrassment
Arsenal’s reported pursuit of Jarell Quansah meant Liverpool appeared set to regret their decision even more to sell him to Bayer Leverkusen.
The most glaring example of Liverpool’s squad being weakened the season after winning their 20th league title was the Marc Guehi situation, which concluded with the England international centre-back joining Manchester City in January for a lower fee than Liverpool had initially agreed with Crystal Palace.
Guehi’s wage demands come January were reportedly higher than the Reds were willing to pay, and little could be done about Steve Parish’s last-minute U-turn on deadline day last summer while Guehi was undergoing his medical to join Liverpool.
Instead, the genuinely baffling decision was allowing Jarell Quansah to leave when a deal for Guehi was far from certain. With Quansah, Liverpool allowed one of the most promising defenders in the Premier League to depart for a fee that now appears an absolute bargain, only to fail to replace him and spend most of the campaign operating with just two senior (and frequently out-of-form) centre-backs.
One of the most perplexing aspects was Liverpool pre-agreeing a contract for Quansah to return if the Reds activate his buy-back clause either this summer or next – suggesting such an outcome was considered likely and raising questions about how exactly his Leverkusen move would benefit Liverpool financially.
With the Reds having signed Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni returning to fitness and the Araujo loan agreed later, Quansah’s impressive performances in Germany were overlooked this summer with his buy-back fee thought to reduce in value next year.
That decision seemed set to backfire dramatically last week, when Arsenal were credibly reported to be in talks for Quansah just a year after the 23-year-old departed Anfield (Sky Sports, The Athletic).
But Sky Sports now report that Arsenal are in advanced talks for Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa, a player who favours Quansah’s right side and, like his younger counterpart, can also provide cover at right-back.
Arsenal had been linked with Konsa for several weeks before this update, so perhaps the public interest in Quansah was an attempt to drive Villa’s valuation down – the Gunners having been unwilling to meet their £60m asking price.
Either way, the embarrassing prospect of Quansah joining a Premier League rival just a year after leaving appears to have been avoided for now, leaving open the possibility the Warrington-born defender still returns to Liverpool in a future window.
Liverpool courting Argentine talent Aranda
Young attacking midfielder Tomas Aranda is highly regarded by Boca Juniors president Juan Roman Riquelme.
After Liverpool secured a deal for Colombian attacking midfielder Samuel Martinez earlier in the summer, who will join his new teammates a year later, another young South American prospect has been linked with the Reds.
El Crack Deportivo have reported that Liverpool and numerous other clubs are pursuing the services of 19-year-old Tomas Aranda, an attacking midfielder and left winger for Boca Juniors.
Aranda has a $20m (£14.7m) release clause at Boca and, despite managing just one goal and three assists from 19 appearances in Argentina this season, is regarded by club president Juan Roman Riquelme – a legend of Aranda’s position – as a great gem.
Riquelme, according to the report, does not want to know when it comes to the prospect of losing Aranda. But an increasing number of suitors are reportedly emerging for the youngster.
Chelsea are given prominent status in this report, as in a corroborating report from El Intransigente. But Liverpool are also said to be following Aranda closely, along with Inter, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, the City Group, Parma and Como, plus Brazilian clubs Corinthians and Sao Paulo.
While Boca are reluctant to lose their hot prospect, El Intransigente report that a bid close to the release clause could force the club to make a difficult decision.
With Liverpool increasingly looking to bypass intermediary clubs in recent years in the pursuit of football’s top emerging talents – see Martinez, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and arguably Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni – more of these types of deals are expected in future.
Liverpool have also been linked with Tijuana talent Gilberto Mora, the 17-year-old playmaker who impressed at the World Cup for Mexico this summer.
Other reports today
Various outlets have reported that Ifeanyi Ndukwe is set to join LaLiga side Levante on a season-long loan, an exciting move for the Austria Vienna academy graduate who impressed at centre-back for Liverpool in pre-season. By joining a team in a top-tier domestic league, Ndukwe can start accumulating points faster to secure eligibility for a UK work permit under post-Brexit regulations. Paul Gorst has the full story – with the move not yet confirmed but Levante understood to be at the front of the queue as things stand.
Spurs are planning to sign three attackers before the window closes, according to Sky Sports, with Cody Gakpo among their primary targets. Alongside the widely-reported interest in Gakpo and Savinho for the opposite wing, Spurs are said to want a centre-forward to complete their forward line, with Omar Marmoush on the list. Pedro Neto is viewed as an alternative if Spurs miss out on Gakpo, with the north London club said to be waiting for Liverpool to sign Bradley Barcola and potentially his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Ibrahim Mbaye before they bid for Gakpo on top of Savinho.
And Darwin Nunez is set for a loan move to Al Diriyah from fellow Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, after being frozen out at last season’s league runners-up. Nunez had been expected to join Mohamed Salah at Trabzonspor but that move collapsed, meaning Nunez will remain in the Pro League for at least one more year. Sacha Tavolieri’s tweet breaks down the complicated situation, with Al Diriyah’s commitment to cover 75% of Nunez’s wages perhaps proving decisive.
Rumour of the day
Endrick remains highly regarded at Real Madrid but faces an even greater challenge to secure regular minutes this season.
Endrick to Liverpool is a transfer rumour that – on the surface, at least – makes considerably more sense than the stories that usually end up unceremoniously in this section of the column.
Liverpool need more options at right wing and through the middle of their attack, and Endrick fulfills both requirements while possessing top-level experience and considerable potential.
However, the story behind this particular rumour – which, in a development that is rarely promising, required quite some investigation to uncover – is unfortunately complete nonsense.
The story first appeared on Madrid Universal, which is – no prizes for guessing – a Real Madrid fan site that aggregates stories about Real Madrid players and targets.
Citing Mundo Deportivo, the report explains how Endrick finds himself on the periphery in Madrid due to the competition levels within their squad and the recent signings of Yan Diomande and Carlos Espi, with Liverpool having registered interest in either a €65m (£55.7m) permanent move or a loan deal.
Mundo Deportivo tell much the same story, Liverpool wanting Endrick to replace Salah. They, however, cite the English press, specifically Livescore.
It turns out Livescore’s article is a republished piece from Anfield Watch, citing a typically-unsourced article from rumour section regulars Fichajes.
This labyrinthine rumour chain is almost enough for inclusion by itself, but Fichajes are only just beginning. According to the Spanish outlet, Jose Mourinho is counting on the player for the upcoming 2026-27 season, although his future will depend on the attacker’s own decision.
That sounds plausible, but Endrick’s decision was already widely reported last week: to stay and fight for his place (The Athletic). The decision, according to Mario Cortegana’s report at the time, was one reached jointly by the player, the club and head coach.
Fichajes acknowledge this, to be fair, admitting that Endrick, for his part has maintained over recent weeks his intention of competing for minutes in Madrid.
Just a few days ago, the situation indicated he was staying after Mourinho and sporting leadership chose to keep him in the squad.
One might naturally assume Fichajes would then explain how that decision had changed, with Endrick or Mourinho communicating a desire to find an alternative solution. Not at all.
If nothing has changed, it raises the question of how this is even a story. Yet this is the nature of the rumour mill, and no one ever claimed it had to make sense.