Arne Slot drops hint on Curtis Jones' Liverpool future after Reds reject transfer approach

Jones and Slot

Arne Slot has hinted that contract talks are planned for Curtis Jones after explaining why Liverpool turned down an approach from Inter before the transfer deadline.

The Reds were believed to have been contacted by the Serie A giants last weekabout Jones's situation before it was decided that no senior player would be allowed to depart before the end of the current campaign.

The Liverpool-born Jones has 18 months remaining on his current terms and has been linked with Tottenham Hotspur as well as Italian giants Inter.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday before Sunday's visit from Manchester City,

Slot opened up on the call to turn down the advances before the window closed on Monday evening.

Slot

“Talks are not taking place in this [press] room, talks are taking place in other places in this building,"

"The moment we have news, we share it here. But I am aware, the club is aware and he is aware that he has only 18 months left, so that is all I can say about it.

“He has played a lot of minutes, not all of them, but I think he is unlucky in the sense that midfield is the only line we haven't had injuries, but still he has played a lot of minutes and that is, of course, why we kept him because we have players but we need midfielders in these different positions as well.

"And the moment you start to need midfielders in different positions, the line in midfield gets smaller and smaller. So of course we kept him and his situation hasn't changed to us.

“He is one of the 16 outfield players available for the long term now and also for now and we have two really young players in Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha included, so it would be strange if we let anyone go if you only have 16 available."

Liverpool have wrapped up a £60m agreement with Rennes to sign 20-year-old defender Jeremy Jacquet in the summer, and the centre-back will be the fifth signed by the club between mid-August and the end of January following deals for Giovanni Leoni and Academy trio Mor Talla Ndiaye, Noah Adekoya and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, whose £2.6m transfer from Austria Vienna will be formalised this summer.

Slot added: "If I tell you they do everything here with a reason then I don't think you are surprised.

“Everything done over here is never from panic, it's always a long-term idea and or something that has been thought about for a long time and not only by one person.

"Of course, we are aware of the fact that Virgil van Dijk won't play for 10 years but he has a one-and-a-half year contract left, so he will be with us for that time, maybe even longer if he keeps staying fit as he is now.

“I've said before what a compliment to him at his age to play every three days, not only now for our club but for his country for seven or eight months already.

"Hopefully, he can stay as fit as he is for multiple years but this club is not stupid. We do know somewhere in the upcoming years, there is life for this club after Virgil. You are talking about Virgil but I can say this for every position.

“This club is not only thinking about the short-term future but also the mid to long-term future."

ad - NIKE Men's 2022/23 Season Official Away Shorts - https://amzn.to/4tisRS5