With just days remaining in the transfer season, we are reaching peak bullshit on Twitter.
If you're not careful, you could be fooled into thinking that Liverpool are signing a goalkeeper, Arsenal are signing a striker, or that Manchester United are signing anybody at all.
It's a minefield out there, with hopeful fans latching onto the most tenuous of links and spreading it like a virus to their timeline, before it gets picked up by a media outlet in a different country which is then reported as a link from foreign media. That's how transfer news works these days.
But it's not all bad. There are some folk on Twitter who will only spill the beans if they are totally confident that the information they received is 100% accurate, so if you're going to go digging for some news on deadline day, we'd suggest you keep it to these accounts.
Italian Clubs/Players
When it comes to Italy, Di Marzio is your man. An Italian journalist who has his own website for transfer news, he also works for Sky Italia and while he does tweet A LOT, he's very reliable for Italian news.
#OM, possibile il ritorno in prestito di #Thauvin dal #Newcastle https://t.co/ZGwIQ4WSKk
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 27, 2016
And along with him is David Amoyal, who writes for ESPN FC as well Di Marzio's site:
Fiorentina grants Mario Suarez leave to travel to London to try to close deal with Watford https://t.co/SANsriqiIN
— David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) January 27, 2016
If news breaks of a deal involving an Italian team or player and these guys haven't commented on it, don't bother.
French Clubs/Players
The only account that has proven itself to be on the money regarding transfers to and from Ligue 1 or involving French players is that of Mohamed Bouhafsi.
Editor of RMC Sport, Bouhafsi famously broke the Anthony Martial to Manchester United story, which of course would have looked absolutely ridiculous when it first surfaced.
Breaking ! ?? Accord #ASM #MUFC pour Anthony Martial. Transfert qui pourrait atteindre 80M€ (60M€ + 20M€ bonus) http://t.co/8kpYo8OqUQ
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) August 31, 2015
Premier League Transfers
Pretty much nobody.
David Ornstein is almost always spon on, but tweets about transfers sparingly:
#Arsenal in talks with #FCBasel to sign Egypt midfielder Mohamed Elneny. 23, needs work permit, is eligible for CL pic.twitter.com/SMWr7F3qEB
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) December 27, 2015
You'll find that Tony Barrett very rarely gets Liverpool news wrong:
Breaking ! ?? Accord #ASM #MUFC pour Anthony Martial. Transfert qui pourrait atteindre 80M€ (60M€ + 20M€ bonus) http://t.co/8kpYo8OqUQ
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) August 31, 2015
And while the likes of Jamie Jackson, Mark Ogden, Daniel Taylor, and Miguel Delaney have bonafide sources for news on Manchester United, the club themselves don't appear to have a clue what's going on regarding transfers, so save yourself the hassle and wait for something official from the BBC.
Spanish Clubs/Players
Don't even bother.
Spanish football media is a nightmare. Every Real Madrid and Barcelona player is leaving, and every club in the Premier League is buying them, unless PSG do.
Just stick with Graham Hunter for his views on La Liga in general.
So it's ridiculous to apply to Aduriz. Who has played for 5 senior clubs. Vieira played for 6. PV a journeyman?? https://t.co/aOJPrFmWvY
— Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) January 25, 2016
German Clubs/Players
Outside of Bild, there's not much to report on. Like Hunter above, Raphael Honigstein won't speak on it unless there's something to it, and again his views on the Bundesliga are worth the follow alone.
The Safe Bet
Sunderland sign defender Lamine Kone from Lorient for an undisclosed fee: https://t.co/1wdUezdJR5 pic.twitter.com/1bXw5vZ904
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 27, 2016
You could just stick to BBC Sport, and the official club twitter account.. But that's boring.
