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🚨 Leeds United on verge of completing agreement with Manchester City to sign James Trafford. Deal for #MCFC goalkeeper worth £40m guaranteed fee plus bonuses - 23yo England international’s transfer to #LUFC now in process of being finalised @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/73507…

Morning Arsenal fans. When @David_Ornstein exclusively reported on the 26th of June a proposal was sent. It was an offer below 60m and it was rejected. You then were told no bid has even been made? This happened again and again you were told…’no direct contact / no official bid’ …In early July I exclusively reported Bruno respectfully told Eddie Howe directly he wants to leave if possible for sporting reasons. Fast forward to Thursday.. widespread reports of a 70m bid…my understanding is that was also rejected in the past days. In our pursuit for our top target Tonali, it became abundantly clear the agent fees, the wages and the transfer fee was just not reflective of the player’s quality and ceiling. During this pursuit we were made aware of Bruno G’s ’desire and availability’. Enter Kia Joorabchian. If there is one thing to know about this individual is that not only is he a super agent but he mingles in super wealthy circles and even enjoys purchasing very very very expensive horses with Premier League owners. Why is that relevant? Let me explain. My understanding is that Kia has always been talking to someone very highly ranked within Newcastle. One may even suggest ownership level talks with Kia as you now know the type of circles he moves in…. So this whole process / the verbal offers have been made in THESE discussions. The Newcastle press and respect to all of them have been reporting in good faith about ‘no official offer / no direct contact’ because no Arsenal employee has not contacted them yet and no official offer has been made. On the 14th of July, I reported 80-85m is where serious talks take place. Now you are hearing ‘the number has to start with an 8’ for serious talks to begin’….When / if Kia makes a breakthrough on the fee and it’s all agreed at a high level…then the actual official bid will go in and things will move rapid. Bruno is obligated to join up with Newcastle this Friday…Kia is still in talks…feels like a really important few days. Arsenal will stick to their valuation with Kia really pushing for a breakthrough. I hope this has cleared up the dual reporting and the process somewhat. Sorry for the delay.