Fabrizio Romano confirms heart and soul of Liverpool is ‘ready to leave’ as two clear destinations emerge | OneFootball

Liverpool’s homegrown hero, Curtis Jones, is giving serious thought to leaving Anfield this summer, with two potential destinations in mind, and with the player currently wrestling with a very tangible moral dilemma.

The 25-year-old Toxteth-raised star first joined the Reds academy as a nine-year-old, rising through the ranks to not just make 224 appearances for his hometown club, but also winning six England caps in the process.

While often seen as a squad man, Jones has seen more minutes at Liverpool since Arne Slot’s arrival as manager, with the Dutchman clearly a big admirer of the player.

But with the player rarely seeing action in his preferred midfield role in recent times, Jones, who has just 14 months remaining on his deal at Anfield, has been strongly linked with a move away this summer.

Indeed, we exclusively revealed back in February that Jones was coming to a major crossroads at Anfield and will demand firm assurances over his first-team prospects before committing to a new deal.

Now it seems that plea has fallen on deaf ears, and Fabrizio Romano claims there is now a real chance that the last remaining Scouser in the Liverpool side will depart this summer.

On the prospect of Liverpool’s heart and soul leaving, Romano told the Here We Go podcast: “I want to start with an underrated player in my view who could be one of the names on the summer on the market when talking about midfielders.

“Curtis Jones is out of contract at Liverpool in the summer of 2027. At the moment, to my understanding, there is no agreement to sign a new contract. At the moment, everything is on total standby between Curtis Jones, his camp and Liverpool.”

On where he could go next, Romano added: “So, be careful with this situation, because several clubs are tracking Curtis Jones. There was interest from the Premier League in the January transfer window, there was interest from Inter Milan in Serie A in January, and Inter remain keen on the player.

“There could be movements around Curtis Jones, and you could imagine an important midfielder like him out of contract in 2027 could be a really interesting option for several clubs.”

Jones facing major moral dilemma over Liverpool future

Per The Times’ Paul Joyce, Jones is not happy with his lack of minutes in recent times and now faces a real dilemma over whether to stay or go this summer.

The 25-year-old has racked up 45 appearances this term, though many have come from the bench. Adding to Jones’ frustrations is the fact that he’s often been deployed out of position at right-back this term.

Furthermore, just two of his last 12 starts have come in his preferred central midfield position.

With Liverpool also looking at signing a new central midfielder this summer – Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace is among those strongly linked – Jones could find himself shunted even further down the Reds pecking order, with strong competition already in place from Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and, to a lesser extent, Wataru Endo.

Joyce claims, in an ideal world, Jones would stay, but commented: ‘There is no doubt that Jones’ preference would be to stay at Liverpool if he could be the main man,’ wrote the reporter.

Nevertheless, if assurances over a more prominent role in the team aren’t received, a summer switch to ensure he’s starting regularly during the prime of his career will be explored.

Joyce concluded: ‘Slot stressed last week that Jones has played more minutes this season than in any previous first-team campaign at Liverpool, but he does not seem to fully trust him. How likely is it that he will start in his preferred position next term?

‘If Jones doubts the answer to that question is positive, then it is perfectly normal for him to wonder if the best years of his career could be compromised by staying.’

On the subject of Wharton, it’s been claimed that the Reds are ready to shell out a club record fee for his signing.

Elsewhere on the transfer front, Liverpool have been told to sacrifice a £37m star in a cash-plus-player deal for a ‘magic’ Bayern Munich sensation