Manchester United Transfer Reliability Guide

With the summer transfer window in full swing, football fans and observers across the globe are usually keen to see the incoming and outgoing transfers at some of Europe’s biggest teams.

Manchester United is a fine example, as the club is hugely popular across the globe.

The completion of Jadon Sancho’s move to the club for a reported 73 million pounds marked the end of a topsy-turvy saga that spanned a good part of the last 2 years.

Dortmund played hard ball with United for a long while before this move came to its conclusion, and that came with loads of media coverage pertaining to whether Sancho would or wouldn’t move back to England.

More so, plenty of players get linked to this prestigious team and so I thought I’d make things easier for people to distinguish the facts from the rumours.

Therefore without further ado, here’s the Manchester United transfer reliability guide – up to date for the year of 2021.

Table Of Contents
  1. Manchester United transfer tier of reliability
  2. Is Duncan Castles tier 1?
  3. Is James Cooper reliable?
  4. Concluding offer

 

Manchester United transfer tier of reliability

NameMedia Outlet / CountryTier RankingReliability Rating
Official Club Sourcewww.manutd.comTier 0
Simon StoneBBC SportTier 1
Simon PeachPress AssociationTier 1
Henry WinterThe Times - Chief of FootballTier 1
Mohamed BouhafsiFranceTier 1
Fabrizio RomanoItalyTier 1
Paul JoyceThe TimesTier 1
Craig Norwood - Photographer-Tier 1
James Cooper-Tier 1
Kristof TerreurThe GuardianTier 1
Sam LeeThe AthleticTier 1
James DuckerThe TelegraphTier 1
John PercyThe TelegraphTier 1
David OrnsteinThe AthleticTier 1
Gerard RomeroEsports RAC1Tier 1
BBC SportUnited KingdomTier 1
Arancha RodriguezSpainTier 1
Alan NixonFor youth and league club newsTier 1
Raphael HonigsteinGuardian German News / FreelancerTier 2
Matt LawThe TelegraphTier 2
Andy BurtonSky SportsTier 2
Lee RyderThe ChronicleTier 2
MoisESPNSpain & South AmericaTier 2
Charlotte DunckerGoal.comTier 2
Jason BurtThe TelegraphTier 2
Sebastian GiovanelliUruguayTier 2
Gianluca Di MarzioItalians onlyTier 2
Ruhr NachrichtenBorussia Dortmund newsTier 2
Paul HirstThe TimesTier 2
Mike McGrathThe TelegraphTier 2
The TelegraphUnited KingdomTier 2
Sport1GermanyTier 2
BILDGermanyTier 2
COPESpainTier 2
Der WestenGermanyTier 2
KickerGermanyTier 2
De TelegraafNetherlandsTier 2
Voetbal InternationalNetherlandsTier 2
Caderna SERSpainTier 2
RMC SportFranceTier 2
TelefootFranceTier 2
Jamie JacksonThe GuardianTier 3
Christian FalkBILDTier 3
Jan Aage FjortoftTwitter: @JanAageFjortoftTier 3
Constantin EcknerTwitter: @cc_ecknerTier 3
Ian LadymanDaily MailTier 3
Mark OgdenESPNTier 3
Daniel TaylorThe AthleticTier 3
Ian HerbertIndependentTier 3
Jim White (Everton Only)Sky SportsTier 3
Rob DawsonESPNTier 3
Lawrie WhitwellThe AthleticTier 3
Adrian KajumbaDaily MailTier 3
Dan HarrisThe GuardianTier 3
Fredrik A. Filtvedt / James SavundraTalkSPORTTier 3
Julien MaynardTelefootTier 3
Alfredo PedullaItalyTier 3
Mike KeeganDaily MailTier 3
The GuardianUnited KingdomTier 3
The TimesUnited KingdomTier 3
Canal+FranceTier 3
BILDGermanyTier 3
Le ParisienFranceTier 3
O JogoPortugalTier 3
RTPPortugalTier 3
Guillem BalagueSky Sports / FreelanceTier 4
Stuart MathiesonManchester Evening NewsTier 4
Kaveh SolhekolSky SportsTier 4
Dharmesh SethSky SportsTier 4
Pietro Balzano Prota (Tier 1 for AC Milan)Radio RossoneraTier 4
Paris / Euro UnitedFrance / PSGTier 4
Duncan CastlesRecord / TimesTier 4
Sam Pilger-Tier 4
David AmoyalGianluca Di MarzioTier 4
James RobsonEvening StandardTier 4
London Evening StandardUnited KingdomTier 4
Daily MailUnited KingdomTier 4
The IndependentUnited KingdomTier 4
TalkSPORTUK & IrelandTier 4
Correio de ManhaPortugalTier 4
A BolaPortugalTier 4
RecordPortugalTier 4
TuttosportItalyTier 4
TuttomercatowebItalyTier 4
CalcioMercatoItalyTier 4
L'EquipeFranceTier 4
Goal.comUnited KingdomTier 4
Mundo DeportivoSpainTier 4
BILD SportGermanyTier 4
SportSpainTier 4
MARCASpainTier 4
El ChiringuitoSpainTier 4
Paris UnitedFrance & PSG newsTier 4
ASSpainTier 4
MetroUnited KingdomTier 5
Sky SportsUnited KingdomTier 5
The AthleticUnited KingdomTier 5
The MirrorUnited KingdomTier 5
The ExpressUnited KingdomTier 5
The SunUnited KingdomTier 5
Diario GolSpainTier 5
Manchester Evening NewsUnited KingdomTier 5
Get French Football NewsFranceTier 5
Bleacher ReportUSATier 5
90min.comUnited KingdomTier 5
Sport WitnessUnited KingdomTier 5
SquawkaUnited KingdomTier 5
Here Is The CityUnited KingdomTier 5
Peter O'RoukeFreelancerTier 5
Tancredi PalmieriFreelanceTier 5
Samuel LuckhurstManchester Evening NewsTier 5
Simon MullockThe MirrorTier 5
Miguel DelaneyThe IndependentTier 5
Mark GoldbridgeThe United StandTier 5
Caught OffsideUnited KingdomTier 5
Daily StarUnited KingdomTier 5
Sport / Lad BibleUnited KingdomTier 5
IndyKailaTwitterTier 5
Jack OtwayExpressTier 5

 

Is Duncan Castles tier 1?

According to the tier list above, Duncan Castles is listed as a tier 4 source.

So it’s safe to say that he’s far from being considered in the tier 1 category.

However, during Jose Mourinho’s spell at the club, Mr. Castles had a bit of an inside scoop when it came to behind-the-scenes matters.

This was particularly due to his closeness with Jorge Mendes and the latter’s associated clients – which included Jose Mourinho himself.

Therefore, a distinction can be made when it comes to Duncan Castles reporting on transfer news to do with Jorge Mendes clients. In such scenarios, he’s usually bumped up to tier 2.

 

Is James Cooper reliable?

Previously a tier 2 source, Cooper has been bumped up to tier 1 status as a result of his reliable transfer coverage over the last couple of months.

Although he no longer works for Sky Sports News anymore, he was a senior reporter with established connections at the club.

 

Concluding offer

Now that you can see which journalists and media outlets are present under Manchester United’s classification, there’s something that I think would be of interest to you.

As you’re aware of the tier scale, you know that different journalists report on transfer news for different teams.

So, for example, Fabrizio Romano might rank in Tier 2 for AC Milan transfer news but performs less effectively when breaking news for a club like Manchester City with a Tier 3 ranking assigned to him.

What if you had a document that could provide you tier rankings for each one of Europe’s biggest clubs?

Well, there’s good news because we’ve got just the solution for you!

Have a look at our Transfer Tier of Reliability eBook which is the central guide piece to the current age of soccer transfer window speculation.

We’ve eliminated the painstaking hours of research for you by compiling a comprehensive Tier 1 to Tier 5 breakdown of the reliability of the world’s sports journalists and media outlets.

The teams included in this guide consist of the English Premier League’s traditional top six clubs, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint Germain.

Go ahead and jump straight to checkout for this eBook here!

 

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Samuel Waihenya
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