Only at the point where it gets to the medical. Even Fab Romano only gives it the “here we go” when the player is at TA. Going back through our recent signings not many names got flagged first. In fact I’m still waiting for Ryan Kent to join
Now you're moving the goalposts. You said 'until the deal was done'. Now it's 'until the player is at TA'. You can usually find out that we are in for a player or agreed terms with a player well in advance. That gives you an idea of who we are talking to.
That’s just semantics. Unless you get an arse like the Swansea chairman, once the player is at TA for the medical it’s usually a “done deal” and that’s when it’s announced. So many of our transfers have come out of left field with no one linking us to the player though you will obviously get the odd exception.
You said there is no 'genuine news until the deal is done'. We knew about Stach before the deal was done. Longstaff, Gudmundsson, Perri were all reliably known about before they set foot in England. There are a **** load of clickbait sites that guess but you can syphon through most of it and get a general idea of what is genuine news.
I’ll look on the click bait sites and you check your reputable sources and see what we can come up with (the 18th August can’t come round quick enough)
Clickbait sites saying Kalvin Phillips to Leeds. (No more midfielders required) Newcastle to hijack Leeds deal for Muniz. (There is no deal for Muniz) More believable stories. James Justin to Leeds from Leicester. (Makes some sense due to Schmidt possibly leaving on loan. Justin can play left or right back like Schmidt. Wouldn't believe this one yet but does make sense)
There are ways to find out in advance of imminent signings. Just need to know a player’s agent Turned out to be Coco the Spanish clown ffs
