Mat Kendrick's Dentist

He's clearly been right. You're in denial mate

What does "tangibly verified" mean though? People write it off as "clickbait BS" any time a journalist reports on City being in talks for Jack. Transfers are a matter of continual dialogue nowadays. It's not Football Manager where you explicitly click "Submit Bid". City are in talks with Villa on how to do a deal. The fact that talks are being entertained at all suggests to me that there's either a buyout clause or a gentleman's agreement in place, and that the talks are about how such a payment could be structured. I imagine City are trying to find a way to buy Jack, while still having enough funds immediately available to buy Kane, without breaching FFP

He definitely isn't but let's not go around in circles

Preece knows the square root of feckall, unfortunately. He's been saying City's interest is hot air all summer, which is demonstrably nonsense. People believe in him because he says what they want to hear. I'm not saying Jack will definitely go btw, just that Preece clearly doesn't know anything

Just because there's a release clause (or gentleman's agreement) doesn't mean there's no room for negotiations. Transfer fees are normally amortized over the lifetime of a player's contract. Similarly the fee is generally paid in multiple installments. Occasionally clubs who have a player with a release clause make it difficult for the buying club by demanding the entire fee up front, making it tricky to navigate FFP. Jack can go for £100m. It's a matter of whether City are willing to pay it (and potentially how it's structured)

Sam Lee has been a reliable journalist for years and City dullards have slated him because of Mahrez's tweet. The video I posted lends credence to the idea of Mahrez being criticized by players and staff for dribbling, rather than passing, and I believe Lee's comments were well-sourced

Pretty clear he did!

https://twitter.com/TJ93_2/status/1419974051062325275

Every club "taps up". We will have agreed terms with Buendia (and everyone else we sign) before we agreed a transfer fee. It's the done thing. Agents and intermediaries find out if a deal is desirable for the player and buying club. Then negotiations begin with the selling club. That much is fact. What is unclear is the presence or absence of a clause in Jack's case. I believe there's a good chance that there is a clause, or perhaps a gentleman's agreement. But that's just my own opinion, based upon the journalists I trust, as well as my intuition regarding Jack staying last summer

Of course I understand people will be triggered. In my personal opinion, Jack leaving would be an absolute disaster. But people were triggered when it was reported Delph, Milner, and many others were going, and claimed it was clickbait/ITK bollocks, etc. That's what happens when a journo reports news that is unpopular with your team's fans. People need to understand that these things aren't black and white. There clearly is something in the Jack to City link, as it'd be very easy for someone from any of the 3 camps to quash it otherwise. Hopefully Villa can convince Jack to stay on for at least another year, but even if we can, it doesn't mean there was nothing in the link

Yes, he's saying his multiple reliable sources have told him it's all done bar the paperwork (which is important). When this is the case it's fair enough to write the article, as double-sourcing is the normal journalistic standard. Being fair to him, though, he didn't say "it's done", in the article, and acknowledged the suggestion among those close to Jack that he's being offered a new contact. Again, fair enough. Fluid situation

He explicitly said in his article that it isn't done

It wasn't "dribble" last year though was it? Jack admitted he hadn't known where he was going to be playing last season 24 hours before he signed the contract. It was very much possible that he could've gone to United had a large enough bid come in. Transfers are fluid situations, and just because one doesn't get over the line (and hopefully Jack to City doesn't), doesn't mean it was all CLICKBAIT BULLSHIT

It's the total opposite of pie in the sky. Personal terms are agreed before a fee between clubs for literally every transfer nowadays. There's no point in going through a thorough transfer process if the player doesn't even want to come

Sam Lee is normally quite reliable.....

He doesn't shy away from pens. He grabbed the ball to take one against Southampton last season but those on the touchline instructed him to leave it for Watkins. As he said in an interview a couple of weeks ago, he'd happily take a pen at any time

Nice. Where's this from mate?

Any link mate?

HE'S SIGNED A NEW DEAL!!!!!!!!!! Yes, those are the words Midlands journalist Luke Hatfield expects to be saying later this summer. "I dunno mate, I just have a gut feeling he might stick around............I get a few quid for each article you write with this, yeah?"

That's Stormzy, mate

That's mint!

Well.......no. It's subscriber-based, so clickbait would make little sense

I'm not talking about his tweets. I'm talking about his articles in The Athletic, which are accurate, and aren't click-incentivized

Reliable journalists in The Athletic (Sam Lee and David Ornstein) and The Independent (Miguel Delaney) have been saying for weeks that we'll sell for £100m and they were written off as "paper talk guff". It categorically didn't stem from spurious reports in The Sun and Talksport. On the other hand, Rob Dorsett, who has long been (unfairly) ridiculed on here, broke the news that we've offered a contract, and it was instantly accepted! People believe what they want and are burying their heads in the sand if they think this is all just paper talk. Obviously with all that said, I hope we manage to convince Jack to stick around for at least another year