Aston Villa to make ‘concrete offer’ for ‘unhappy’ Liverpool star with sale ripping heart out of Anfield | OneFootball

Aston Villa are readying a bid to sign a disgruntled Liverpool star after talks regarding a contract extension at Anfield stalled, according to reports.

The last deal made between Villa and Liverpool can only be termed disastrous. Harvey Elliott’s loan has devolved into the stuff of nightmares, though the two clubs are not deterred and could do business once more in the upcoming summer transfer window.

According to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Curtis Jones is ‘not happy’ with his squad player status at Liverpool.

That is highly relevant to Aston Villa, with our colleagues over on TEAMtalk recently revealing Unai Emery’s side are prepping a ‘concrete offer’ for the 25-year-old.

O’Rourke explained: “We know last season there was a big overhaul of players at Anfield with big-name signings coming in.

“Players were sacrificed to help fund that, and it’s probably going to be a similar case this year, I’m sure there’s a few players who will be moving on.

“You’ve got the likes of Curtis Jones, who hasn’t got long left on his contract at Anfield, so his situation could change in the summer transfer window.

“He’s not happy being a fringe player at Liverpool at the moment, he wants to be more involved so he could look to move on. There’s uncertainty about a few players in that Liverpool squad.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has already spoken publicly of his side’s need to sell a player or two this summer to ensure they can spend heavily.

With RB Leipzig’s €100m-plus rated Yan Diomande now pencilled in as the No 1 target to replace Mohamed Salah, you can already see why sales of fringe players like Jones might be required.

Aston Villa to capitalise on contract impasse

Adding further fuel to the exit fire is the fact Jones only has one year remaining on his current contract.

TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey previously revealed talks regarding an extension have taken place, though they’ve since stalled. A lack of guarantees over increased playing time would be among the obvious explanations as to why.

As such, Jones is now ‘preparing to leave Liverpool’ at season’s end and Villa are primed to launch a ‘concrete offer’.

Aside from Villa, there is also budding interest from Newcastle, Tottenham and Inter Milan, the latter of which seriously explored a move for Jones in January.

Jones has made 44 appearances across all competitions this term, and while a huge chunk of those have come from the bench, he remains an important squad player for the Reds.

His versatility has also been on show multiple times this season, with Jones deputising to great effect at right-back on occasion, including in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.

Curtis Jones sale leaves Liverpool Scouser-less

But perhaps the biggest concern for Liverpool would be the potential sale of Jones would leave the club without a senior Scouser in the first-team squad.

Liverpool have always prided themselves on having homegrown stars in the team, and in Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Trent Alexander-Arnold, there was always at least one Scouser in the starting eleven over the past three decades.

If Jones were to depart, Liverpool would lose a piece of their identity, along with a highly valued squad player.