Inter has chosen the profile to focus on to strengthen the midfield: Curtis Jones is the name at the top of Marotta & Co.’s list. However, they need to overcome the Liverpool obstacle. On one side, there is the English club trying to maximize the profit from a homegrown talent, while on the other, Inter wants to seize the right opportunity without getting dragged into unaffordable bidding wars. In between, there is the player’s will, who embraces the Nerazzurri project. Inter wants to add international experience and quality to the midfield, and the name that truly excites the executives at Viale della Liberazione today is that of the Englishman, as also confirmed by La Gazzetta dello Sport:
“Liverpool’s request, for a player whose contract expires next year anyway, is around 35 million euros. This is in line with the midfielder’s market value, and perhaps even slightly lower, but not with the contractual situation. On the other hand, Inter is well aware of every aspect of the negotiation and has allocated a budget of about 22 million (25 at most with the inclusion of some bonuses) for the purchase of the Englishman. Who, among other things, is represented by the agency ‘The Team’, the same one with which Inter had a good experience not more than a year ago when negotiating for Akanji and maybe even in the future for Jhon Lucumì from Bologna.
The stumbling block, before closing the deal, is represented by Jones’s resale clause: Inter intends to set it at a low percentage, while Liverpool would accept a slightly lower immediate payment in exchange for a greater return in the future. But the ‘experienced foreigner’ that Beppe Marotta mentioned as the profile Inter would be looking for on the market is the Englishman. He is the preferred choice for the midfield, even more than Manu Koné from Roma (who are asking 50 million euros for the Frenchman)“.
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