Curtis Jones explains the role he wants at Inter, and why Serie A defences sit deep
The midfielder, out injured since his lone Serie A start, tells DAZN why he believes Inter's Champions League gap is smaller than people think — and what he brings to a midfield built for knockout football.
Curtis Jones says he is in no doubt that Inter can win the Champions League this season, telling DAZN in an interview released on Friday that "the gap isn't that far away" between the club and the trophy.
The former Liverpool midfielder has made one Serie A start since joining Inter, missing the last two matches with an adductor injury, according to Football Italia. Inter currently sit top of the table after seven games.
Jones's comments matter less as prediction than as a window into how he sees his own job inside Pep... no, inside Inter's midfield, and why he thinks the step from the Premier League to Serie A has been smaller than expected.
Why low blocks, not presses, await Inter
Jones was asked directly whether Serie A felt slower than the Premier League, and his answer is worth taking seriously as tactical observation rather than complaint. He conceded the games "are more slower in a way" but located the cause not in quality but in opposition set-up: teams facing Inter choose to defend deep rather than press high.
He drew a direct comparison with Liverpool, saying the same pattern applied there: "I don't think other teams are going to come and try press us, they're going to sit in a low block and make it difficult for us." This is a familiar problem for dominant sides in both leagues — opponents cede territory and the ball in order to deny space in behind, forcing the stronger team to break down a packed defensive block rather than exploit transitions.
For a team like Inter chasing Serie A and Champions League football simultaneously, that distinction matters. Facing a low block repeatedly in the league demands patience in build-up and quality in the final third rather than the ability to counter-press turnovers, which is a different skill set to the one Champions League knockout football, against sides willing to come out and play, can require.
The risk-taker Inter wanted in midfield
Jones was explicit about the profile he sees himself fitting into Inter's midfield: "Energy and calmness as well... I rarely want to be that lad, I want to play in the middle of the park, get on the ball, I want to try and assist, I want to try and score goals."
He contrasted this with a more conservative option — a midfielder content to drop into the back line and never be pressed — and placed himself deliberately in opposition to it, accepting that risk-taking in possession will sometimes fail. That self-description points to a player who wants to operate as a progressive carrier and line-breaker from central areas rather than a pure circulator of possession, which is a specific demand on a double pivot or a more advanced central role depending on how Inter's shape adjusts around him.
He also framed his value alongside two other recent arrivals with English football experience, John Stones and Djed Spence, describing their collective contribution as "experience" rather than output alone — an implicit acknowledgment that his own impact is not easily captured by goals and assists.
That point was reinforced by Alexander Isak's description of him as the most underrated player Isak has played alongside, which Jones called "a compliment" while noting that modern football's obsession with "stats and goals and assists" can obscure the off-ball work teammates recognise but fans and numbers do not.
A Liverpool exit shaped by fan connection, not just football
Jones's account of the move itself centres on something less tactical and more emotional: he said he recognised a connection between Inter's players and supporters when playing against them for Liverpool in the Champions League at San Siro, a match Liverpool won. He described feeling at Inter the same sense he had at Anfield, where the crowd functioned, in his words, as a twelfth man, and said that similarity made the transfer "an easy choice."
He added that the adjustment to life in Milan has been smooth, saying his family is settled and that he does not feel like a new arrival despite the short time at the club.
None of this changes the tactical picture Jones describes, but it frames why he is willing to take the on-field risks he talks about: a player who feels embedded in a club's identity is, by his own account, more inclined to gamble possession in search of the goal he is still chasing — his first for Inter — than one still finding his feet.
With Jones sidelined by the adductor issue, Inter's response to low-block opposition in Serie A and their approach to Champions League fixtures will be shaped for now by the rest of the midfield, with his return expected to add the ball-carrying and final-third risk he describes as his contribution.