Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Note in OP, 25/08

Your Airbag wrote: »

It looks like a sure thing that Roma and Benatia are about to part company and Bayern are set to make a new bid.

http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/calciomercato/roma-and-benatia-break-up-bayern-munich-are-ready-to-make-a-new-bid-the-latest/

No idea how reliable gianlucadimarzio.com is.

Tier 1
Mark Ogden at the Telegraph, Jamie Jackson at the Guardian and James Ducker at the Times:
All of these men get updates straight from the horses mouth. They are United's direct mouthpiece to the media. It will always have United's "side" to the story, but the information is as reliable as you can get. I know many people have complained about Jackson, but he will only be judged after the Shaw transfer is settled.
Howard Nurse at the BBC:
Doesn't write directly about United in his pieces, but is a United fan and seems to have a very good source inside United. He has been very correct on transfer statuses of big moves for many summers and can be relied on. He tends to disclose the most on twitter (@howardnurse). [Under Review]
Andy Mitten of United We Stand
Runs one of United's best Fanzines and is close to many longer time players. Has sources in and around the club, but he keeps a lockbox in his information to subscribers of his site only. It eventually leaks out to the larger public, but only after a bit of a delay. His articles on ESPNFC and other places generally ramble on a bit, but every one of them contains a nugget that you do not see anywhere else.
Miguel Delaney at ESPN FC:
Has been a step ahead of many other writers for the past 6 months. He moved earlier to Tier One after being three weeks early to the Mata story and cemented his spot after being the first to start reporting the discontent at the board level with Moyes. Is generally very well measured on odds of a transfer occurring. Seems to have very different sources than the big three up top, which helps clarify overall transfer pictures.
Gianluca Di Marzio
I had forgotten to include him in prior lists, but he is absolutely the biggest man on the continent for major stories in Europe. His list of breaking news accomplishments is long, but include stories as Pep to Bayern. He very rarely gets big United stories but with a large summer shopping list coming up, a good source on the continent is key. Also, he is the real Sky Italia, Tancredi licks his plate. [Under Review]

Tier 2
Ian Ladyman at the Daily Mail:
The Mail has a reputation for nonsence but Ian is an exception. He tends to be accurate, and seems to share the same sources as Jamie and Mark. Lately he seems to be getting less and less stories, and he might be slowly losing his access to the inside of OT.
Rory Smith and Daniel Taylor
Both very good journos who check their sources. Do not focus on United, but will sometimes get involved with bigger stories. Daniel Taylor wrote some of the best and most in depth stories regarding the Moyes departure.

Tier 3
Bumper Grahmn at Sky Sports
Heavily involved with reporting on the Thiago affair, and the classic example of looking very wrong where he was right. He is normally a good source in Spain, but has been missing the mark recently and has been downgraded.
Tancredi Palmeri
Is right for every five times he is wrong. Heavily unreliable. [Under Review]
The Mirror Paul Stretford's mouthpiece. Rare to no reliable information found about United in this paper.
Bleacher Report
Rarely fact check and loves to use "reports say". They tend to be indiscriminate over where these reports are from. [Under Review]
Guillem Balague
Seems to enjoy doing favors to clubs he wants access to for writing books or agents he wants to buy him dinner and such will either tow the club line, or will "confirm" ridiculous rumors for the sake of adding agent leverage. Very low reliability.

Tier 4
Indy Kaila
Completely fake.
The Express/Star/Metro/Etc
Fond of taking twitter gossip as fact. Be warned.
Once you get past tier two, it is a dangerous game of false hope. It is already hard to sort out who is right when it comes to English media, and it is even harder when coming from the foreign press. Luckily there are some tools to help. The first is a site called Sport Witness. They do not report news, just dissect the reports already out there. Masters at disseminating planted agent stories, and sniffing out patterns, they are a must read in any transfer window. (You can also find them on twitter) If you want a United leaning slant on transfers both Tom Coast (@sardinetrawler) and Jonas Giaever (@chegiaever) have you covered. They speak multiple languages and follow stories closer than anyone. Jonas is now famous for spotting the infamous "Thiago Ball". There are endless other things I could mention, but is a great bedrock if you are looking for some sanity!