Transfer Reliability Guide

[Zenith]

Tier 0
Arsenal.com

Tier 1
David Ornstein - The Athletic / Jacob Steinberg (London Clubs) - The Guardian / John Percy (England/Midlands clubs) - The Telegraph / Simon Stone (Manchester Clubs) - BBC / Martin Blackburn (Manchester City) - The Sun / Matt Law (Chelsea) - Daily Telegraph / Adam Blackmore (Southampton) - BBC / Laurie Whitwell (Manchester United) - The Athletic / Ben Pearce (Spurs) - Freelance / Mike Verweij (Netherlands/Ajax) - Telegraaf / Voetbal International (Nederlands/Ajax) / CMVM.pt (Portugal) / "Quakerboy" (Galatasaray) - rerererarara.net / Edu Polo (Spain) - Mundo Deportivo / RTP 1 (Portugal) / Alfredo Pedulla (AC Milan) - Freelance (Italy) / Romeo Agresti (Juventus) - Goal.com (Italy) / Stephan von Nocks & Frank Lußem (Germany) - Kicker / Ruhr Nachrichten (Schalke & Borrusia Dortmund) / Craig Norwood (Manchester United) - Freelance / George Caulkin (Newcastle United) - The Times / Keith Downie (Newcastle United) - Sky Sports / Craig Hope (Newcastle United) - Daily Mail / Reviersport (Schalke) / Paris United (France) / Globoesporte (Brasil) / Adam Leventhal (Watford) - Sky Sports / Paul Joyce (Liverpool & Everton) - Times / James Pearce (Liverpool) - Echo / Sam Lee (Manchester Clubs) - The Athletic / Rik Elfrink (PSV) - Eindhovens Dagblad / El Mercurio (Chile) / Brian Sciaretta (US) - New York Times / Steven Goff (US) - Washington Post / Grant Wahl (US) - Fox Sports/Sports Illustrated / Kristof Terreur - HLN (Belgian players playing in England) Fareham Abolhosseini (Danish Clubs) - bt.dk / Yağız Sabuncuoğlu - SportsDigitale (Turkish Clubs) / Gaston Edul (T1 Argentina)

Tier 2
Fabrizio Romano - Social Platforms / Charles Watts (Arsenal) - Social Platforms / James McNicholas (Arsenal) - The Athletic, Gunner Blog / Art de Roché (Arsenal) - The Athletic / Amy Lawrence (Arsenal) - The Athletic / Sami Mokbel (London Clubs) - Daily Mail / Gianluca Di Marzio (Italy) - Freelance/Sky Italia / James Ducker (Chelsea/Manchester Clubs) / Chris Bascombe (Liverpool/Everton) - Telegraph / Bild (Germany) / COPE (Spain) / Dan Kilpatrick (Spurs) - ESPN (England/US) / Lyall Thomas (Spurs) - Sky Sports / Ed Aarons (Spurs) - Guardian / Simon Mullock (Manchester City) - The Mirror / Lee Ryder (Newcastle United) - The Chronicle / Daily Echo (Southampton) / L'Equipe (France) / Raphael Honigstein (Germany) - Sky Germany / NTVSpor (Turkey) / Serdar Saridag (Turkey) - Millyet / oJogo (Portugal) / Ahmet Ercanlar (Fenerbache) - Hürriyet Gazetesi / Sky Sport Italia (Italy) / LigTv (Turkey) / BeIn (Turkey) / Radio Catalunya (Barcelona) (Spain) / Radio Renascença (Portugal) / Cadena SER (Spain) / Sid Lowe - Freelance (Spain) / Leverkusener Anzeiger (Bayer Leverkusen) / Der Westen (Germany) / Gerard Romero (Barcelona) - RAC1 (Spain) / Chris Wathan (Swansea/Wales) - BBC / Riath Al-Samarrai (Swansea/Wales) - Daily Mail / EMOL (Chile) / Mellissa Reddy (Liverpool) - Goal.com / Telefoot (France) / Andy Hunter (Liverpool/Everton) - Guardian / Marcelo Bechler (Brazil) - Esporte / Jack Gaughan - (Northern Clubs) - Daily Mail

Tier 3
Simon Collings (Arsenal, Women's Football) - Evening Standard / James Benge (Arsenal - CBS Sports / @Teamnewsandtix (Arsenal) - Twitter, Patreon / @InsideTheCannon (Arsenal) (formerly @TheAFCBeII) - Twitter / Telegraph (England) / Guardian (England) / Independant (England) / Sky Sports (England) / Ian Ladyman (Manchester Clubs) - The Mirror / Manchester Evening News (England) / Jeremy Wilson - Telegraph / Jim White (England) - Sky Sports / ESPN (Various) / The Echo (Liverpool/Everton) / Futbol Arena (Turkey) / Record (Portugal) / aBola (Portugal) / Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) / Corriere dello Sport (Italy) / Il Tempo (Italy) / la Repubblica (Italy) / Le Parisien (France) / Transfer Merkezi (Turkey) / Mundo Deportivo (Spain) / Sport (Spain) / COPE (Spain) / Onda Cero (Spain) / Sport1 (Germany) / Kaya Kaynak (London Clubs) - Football.London / Mohammed Bouhafsi (France) - RMC / Kicker.de

Tier 4
Guillem Balague (England/Spain) / Duncan Castles (England) / Metro (England) / NBC Sports (US) / Sports Witness (Various) / AFTV / Marca (Spain) / AS (Spain) / Fotomaç (Turkey) / Fanatik (Turkey) / Aspor (Turkey) / Hurriyet (Turkey) / Haberturk (Turkey) / Correio da Manhã (Portugal) / Tuttosport (Italy) / Voetbalzone.nl (Netherlands) / Pierre Menes (France) / Sky Germany (Germany) / Bleacher Report (Various) / Miguel Delaney (Freelance) (England) / Andy Mitten (Manchester United) - Freelance / Talksport (U.K.) / AFC (Arsenal) / Here is the City (Manchester Clubs) / Get French Football News (France) / CalcioMercato (Italy)

Tier 5 - BANNED
Tancredi Palmieri / Kaveh Solhekol / Kike Marin / Nicolò Schira / Eduardo Hagn / Ben Jacobs / IndyKaila / Daily Star / Muzzy Ozcan / Giacomo Iacobellis / Bleacher Report / LadBible; SPORTbible / Caught Offside / fichajes.net / Joe.ie / TUTTOmercatoWEB (Italy) / Joe.co.uk / 90min / Don Balon / 90Min

[Angelito]

GOAT guide.

Jeremy Wilson? He doesn't provide the dirt but when he reports it, it's pretty much a serious thing.

[SuperJackyWilshere]

Where is this from?

Jim White should be up there IMO due to his connections and Balague definitely shouldn't be tier 4 after the year he's had. He's been spot on with most things especially concerning Arsenal. He was the one that gave us the Auba news and he now has strong connections with Raul Sanllehi.

[Santi]

Dunno how you can really judge this anyway when there's rarely confirmation on the failed deals or people we wanted but couldn't get. A real insider knows about all of these but could look like a complete spoon if they call them and then the deal flops behind the scenes.

[Zenith]

GOAT guide.

Jeremy Wilson? He doesn't provide the dirt but when he reports it, it's pretty much a serious thing.

He writes decent articles but when it comes to breaking stories early Wilson is probably around tier 3.

Most of his articles are based not on inside information, but conjecture and speculation, which, to his credit, is something he is transparent about.

Something among the lines of 'Arsenal interested in going for player X in next transfer window'.

He usually doesn't report anything conclusive, so even if it turns out we don't get player X, it can't really come back to haunt him as he never mentioned any done deal.

Here's a classic J. Wilson article from January 2015 about our alleged interest in Schneiderlin -

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footb ... erlin.html

[Angelito]

On a different note, Amy Lawrence and David Ornstein are both with the Athletic now.

Since Wenger's stepped down, Jeremy Wilson's Arsenal-related articles have gone down significantly.

John Cross is on the same boat. With Gazidis out, his Arsenal-related articles have been generalizations. But that was pretty much always the case with him, I guess.

[Zenith]

↑ Updated.

Whether DO and AL stay in Tier 1 and 2 respectively remains to be seen.

Also added Kristoff Tereur (HLN) to tier 2.

[VCC]

I like this Zen

Well done

[Arsenal Tone]

Ornstein has got quite a few things wrong recently

[UFGN]

Ornstein has got quite a few things wrong recently

Maybe his most reliable sources have moved on since he made his name at the BBC? A journalist like him is nothing without good sources after all

[Arsenal Tone]

Ornstein has got quite a few things wrong recently

Maybe his most reliable sources have moved on since he made his name at the BBC? A journalist like him is nothing without good sources after all

Or he's feeding us fake rumours as a smokescreen so we can quietly go about signing the players we really want

[Zenith]

Updated.

TheAFCBell has allegedly returned under a new handle. Moved to tier 3 until they prove to be legit.