Dubious reports claim Alex Sandro has agreed personal terms with Chelsea

Chelsea fan site Read Chelsea, citing a Juventus forum called Vecchia Signora citing the Turin-based La Repubblica, report that Chelsea and Juventus have agreed a £60m transfer for Alex Sandro. This is the top story on Chelsea NewsNow and is making the rounds in the TwitterVerse as well.

A couple problems with all this, before we even worry about the veracity of a La Repubblica report.

First, there is no trace of this story on La Repubblica’s website. Their latest is a report from two days ago. This is a common theme with Italian media however, and if the story is in today’s edition (Sunday), which it appears to be, then it won’t be online until tomorrow. So this is not a huge deal, but we do have to take this post on Vecchia Signora and all other secondary and tertiary sources at face value then. While there’s little reason to think it’s made up — they’re fans just like us — we don’t have a primary source to refer to.

The bigger issue is the re-reporting of the story itself, and not just switching €60m to £60m (why would an Italian source report in UK currency?). The post on VS reads:

Alex Sandro has an agreement with Chelsea

TURIN, June 18, 2017 - Alex Sandro has reached an agreement with Chelsea: if Juventus accept the Blues offer of 60 mln, a part of it would be invested on Mendy of Monaco.

Source: La Repubblica

Nowhere does that speak of the two clubs agreeing a transfer. It just says “if” Juve accept the €60m bid, they would look to buy Mendy from Monaco (other similar stories also mention De Sciglio as potential replacement). They do report that Chelsea and Alex Sandro have an agreement, which normally means personal terms though can also be used in a more general sense where a club would agree terms “in principle” with the players’ representatives, which are certainly helpful for any future negotiations but don’t actually mean that a deal is ready to go.

For what it’s worth, Juventus did not completely rule out Alex Sandro leaving when Marotta revealed that they rejected a €60m bid from Chelsea. But why they would now accept €60m when they previously rejected it is unclear.

If we want to speculate and hope, we could say it’s down to Alex Sandro’s own personal wishes. If he wants to leave, Marotta said that Juve wouldn’t stand in his way. (But obviously would makes sure they get proper compensation). Earlier reports, such as the one from two days ago by La Repubblica, speak of Chelsea doubling Alex Sandro’s wages, while more recent ones claim that Alex Sandro has thus been “very tempted” to join Conte and the Blues though it’s not known if he’s gone so far as to submit a transfer request.

So, there may be something happening. Or maybe not. But I certainly wouldn’t get too excited just yet.