Sky Sports transfer guru Jim White highlighted a potential twist in Liverpool’s deal for Roma goalkeeper Alisson when he said that no fee had been agreed, despite it being widely reported.
Multiple sources, including the BBC, reported that a fee had been agreed for the transfer and that personal terms had been agreed ahead of a medical.
However, Jim White claimed this wasn’t the case on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday night, and it’s left Liverpool fans raging.
Source in Italy tells me fee not yet agreed between @ASRomaEN and @LFC for goalkeeper Alisson but player still set to have medical, subject to eventual contract agreement.
— Jim White (@JimWhite) July 18, 2018
Here are the best reactions to Jim White’s incendiary tweet:
One fan said that a player couldn’t undergo a medical unless a fee had been agreed – but he was shot down pretty quickly.
https://twitter.com/NabilFlair10/status/1019660904407949312
That isn't actually true. Clubs can give permission for personal term discussions and/or medicals before fees are agreed. It's only in Football Manager where you need clubs to agree a fee! Doesn't work like that in real life…
— Chris Lepkowski (@chrislepkowski) July 18, 2018
Another Liverpool fan questioned his sources and asked why people should believe him in the face of opposite claims from a lot of respected journalists.
https://twitter.com/waleedkn11/status/1019660798476673025
Another few cynical Liverpool fans said it was just a trick to get people to carry on placing bets on the player to move to Chelsea on sister bookies SkyBet.
Just another Sky tricks to make people still bet for Chelsea
— DIE hard REDS ?? (@WerDhr12) July 18, 2018
Nobody is going to put a bet on Chelsea mate. Give it up.
— Scott (@Shiteke) July 18, 2018
Hi Jim, any chance you’re trying to spin up one last bit of betting revenue for your bosses at SkyBet? Wouldn’t be like you to report false stories to influence the betting markets would it?
— Truan Cannings (@TruanCannings) July 18, 2018
Another was more direct and just said that Jim White was “fake news”, using a meme of Donald Trump to make his point.
https://twitter.com/uddin8989/status/1019660628192120834
OPINION
One thing is certain with a transfer – it’s never done until it’s done, as Chelsea found out after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a medical and ended up moving to Liverpool. Liverpool fans can only rest easy when the transfer is officially done, but everything points towards Alisson’s fee being agreed. It’s not unlike Jim White to try to squeeze every bit of drama out of a proposed transfer.
