We’ve never heard of Pipe Sierra before, but that doesn’t necessarily make his report untrue. It does put us immediately on skeptical ground of course, as does the part about a Colombian journalist breaking news of an English team bidding for a French player playing in France. In any case, here’s Sierra’s tweet of Chelsea’s €35m bid for the Lyon midfielder that is making the rounds this morning.
⚽️ CONFIRMADO: #Chelsea ha hecho una oferta oficial de 35M€ al #Lyon por el mediocampista francés, Corentin Tolisso (22). pic.twitter.com/wIhq0Fg08q
— Pipe Sierra (@PipeSierraR) June 6, 2017
When asked about his source, since he didn’t specify it, Sierra simply says “French media”. Yet another red flag. If it’s not his report and it’s not his source, why not just say where he actually got the information from? Unless of course he’s just making things up. Or perhaps he’s collating information from several sources, if we want to be generous to his Tancredi-esque attempt at Twitter ITK infamy.
French media.
— Pipe Sierra (@PipeSierraR) June 6, 2017
I want this to be true. Tolisso is an excellent player and €35m, especially in today’s market, is an excellent price. But I have serious doubts about the veracity of this report, and I think you should, too. That doesn’t mean Chelsea won’t buy Tolisso this summer. This just sounds too good to be true, even just as a first bid.
Oh well...