A bitter blow: Liverpool now want star to stay but it might be too late

Liverpool now hope one star will stay at the club but is it too late?

Liverpool have said goodbye to a few stars already ahead of the summer. Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson got their grand farewells on the final day of the season, and we’ve since seen Ibrahima Konate agree a move to Real Madrid.

But the exits won’t stop there. Liverpool will continue to reshape their squad and sign off on some difficult goodbyes.

One of those could be Curtis Jones, who will enter the final year of his contract this summer. Jones was heavily linked with a move to Inter back in January – and the Italian champions remain interested in the Scouser.

It seems that Liverpool were open to selling Jones, but now a report from the Athletic claims that’s not necessarily the case. They’d like him to stay at the club beyond this summer.

Is it too late, though? The only reason Jones wants out is that he doesn’t believe there’s a proper starting role for him at Liverpool. There’s no question that he’d renew if he were granted that.

But he certainly didn’t have that under Arne Slot. He might find such a role under Andoni Iraola but he’d be taking a gamble on it.

And that’s why Liverpool may have left it too late here. Jones likely doesn’t fancy gambling on actually playing regularly this season – even if he were given certain assurances over opportunities.

Inter would promise him a starting role and there’s little doubt about that. They wouldn’t be pushing so hard to sign him otherwise.

So there’s a sense here that Liverpool may have waited too long to assure Jones of his role with a fresh contract. He still looks like a probable exit – even if the Reds aren’t in favour of it.