Inter's Midfield Shake-Up: Targeting Manu Koné and Curtis Jones

Cristian Chivu’s Inter are preparing for life after Davide Frattesi, and the blueprint is clear: more legs, more technique, more control. The names at the top of the list are Manu Koné and Curtis Jones.

Koné, the primary target

According to Tuttosport, via CalcioMercato, Koné has emerged as Inter’s main objective on the domestic front. The French midfielder joined Roma from Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer of 2024 for €18 million plus €2 million in bonuses and has since become a regular presence in the Giallorossi midfield.

Eighty-one appearances, four goals, six assists. Solid numbers, but it is his profile that attracts Inter: energy, ball-winning, and the ability to link play in tight spaces.

Koné is under contract at Roma until June 2029 on a net salary of €2.8 million per season. Roma, however, are weighing up sales as they work to stay within financial fair play parameters. That opens a door Inter tried to push through once already.

Last August, Inter made an attempt to bring Koné to Milan and came up empty-handed. Chivu has not forgotten. On his recommendation, the club are readying a new move, this time with more flexibility on the table.

A potential formula is already circulating: Roma could receive Carlos Augusto and/or Frattesi in exchange. A swap deal that would ease Roma’s financial concerns and hand Inter a midfielder tailored to Chivu’s plans. For both clubs, it is the kind of operation that reshapes a summer.

Jones as complementary piece, not consolation prize

The story does not end with Koné. Even if Inter manage to prise him away from Roma, the idea in Milan is to add another midfielder.

Curtis Jones has emerged as that second piece. The Liverpool midfielder, under contract at Anfield until June 2027, earns a net salary of around €500,000 per season. In today’s market, that is a modest figure, and it makes any potential deal far easier to structure from Inter’s side.

Jones is not being viewed as an alternative in case Koné slips away. Tuttosport reports that Inter see him as a complement, a different profile to layer on top of the Frenchman rather than a like-for-like replacement.

The backdrop to this shift is Inter’s fading pursuit of Nico Paz. As that dream recedes, the focus sharpens on targets who are attainable now and ready to contribute immediately.

Koné as the domestic cornerstone, Jones as the versatile addition from abroad: if Inter pull off both moves, Chivu’s midfield could look very different by the end of the summer – and far better equipped for the battles to come.