27 Aug 2026 15:50:32
ITK or NITK
This year on here has seen to a lot of new chatter about ITKs in the chat. Probably as a result of painfully slow activity in the window but it has dominated somewhat. I had some time on my hands today and decided to search the site to see who mentioned our summer signings first in terms of the club being actively involved in negotiations.
The fact is that nobody really had any idea about Munoz or Arujo until the week of the signing.
Barcola on the other hand has been mentioned all summer long but the first mentions of us involved in negotiations came from VictorG and The Fields in late April with Robbo following in May.
The other ITKs came along well after that. So my conclusion based on a limited search would concur that the traditional ITKs are just that (Carra and Ned likely the same before they just got tired of the constant heckling - good to see them back on occasion).
The others may well be ITKs now and into the future but without track record they can’t be called that yet IMO.
Can’t wait for this window to shut and we can watch some footie and argue about the need for a DM or not. ?
27 Aug 2026 16:55:02
Get a load of Sherlock over here.
Jonbonone - the new expert on ITK's.
27 Aug 2026 17:02:48
The op was only sharing some info, Chewy. It never mentioned that they were an expert.
27 Aug 2026 17:06:20
I don't think Jonbonone's post comes across like that at all, Chewy.
He's giving the regular historically accurate ITKs the kudos they deserve and saying the newbies need to earn their stripes.
He doesn't come across as an expert on the ITKs at all, unlike some who seem to think they're the expert on everything.
27 Aug 2026 17:10:10
It's all good Chewy, I don't blame you for being skeptical. Definitely, I'm not ITK and just wanna see some Andoni ball!
27 Aug 2026 17:11:32
If anyone was really in the know, then Munoz/Araujo would have been mentioned. That would have been impressive, but no one had a clue. Along with the rest of the rumours, no one had a clue what was actually happening.
Everyone and their nan knew about the Barcola interest, it's easy to say you're 'putting your neck on the line' with that kind of transfer. It's likely to happen with such big figures. If it doesn't, there's always the 'you just never know with big transfers' get out of jail card.
Easy to say done deal, then drag out the should hear something next week for 2 months. Which also happened with the Isak deal. When in reality, it's still not a 'done deal' until he passes a medical and is actually on our books.
What does 'putting your neck on the line' actually mean on here? A faceless handle judged by other faceless handles, hardly going to have any bearing on your actual life.
It's a rumours site, do we not expect the sensible to the bonkers? I don't believe anyone is or has been ITK on here, some may just receive info that the club are happy to have out there a little earlier than others. As we've seen with a number of transfers, if the club doesn't want anyone to know what's happening, no one will. It will just get done. I think if you actually look into the info on here, it's no more than 50/50 and when it goes against what people said on here it's always back to 'as with everything, things can change very quickly, as everyone knows'.
27 Aug 2026 17:29:28
Robbie23, I don't see any info in op's post whatsoever. To summarise, the post essentially reads, "I can confirm the trusted ITK's we all know are indeed the trusted ITK's we all know". Unless there's some other info I've missed?
27 Aug 2026 18:25:57
Bob le Ponge - I concur, mate. I literally cannot remember the last time an ITK came out with a reliable rumour well in advance of anything that was being touted publicly on social media, and, on a personal level, I love us doing business on the quiet. I know the transfer team are getting loads of stick but snaring Barcola for £100m is great business, adding a genuine Fabinho-style no 6 would be great business and a satisfying transfer window for me.
The no 6 for me would have been absolute priority, and I said it this time last year but was shot down by supporters who believed Grav was the answer. His first season under Slot was great until January when it was clear he wasn't the long term no 6 option.
27 Aug 2026 20:09:28
Bob, Jaydee. You both come across like a pair of over emotional jilted lovers with those comments ?.
Just because the club took 2 very opportunistic moves doesn't mean people are not privy to information about transfers.
Anyway, nice post Jonboneone. Take no notice of Chewy, he's just like that with strangers. ?
27 Aug 2026 20:11:27
Bob le ponge, do you recall that Fabinho's transfer to LIV took even the legend Ed02? Unless you are part of the negotiation table, you can't know it all. These guys deserve their flowers.
27 Aug 2026 22:02:57
Get them Chewy. ??? Jokes aside, I trust those like Thefields to Macca years ago way before any paper shill or Internet sod,
the rich connected journalists people love are scammers,
yet actual people round football who share bits to us are constantly called out, yet how many cant spill fully because people will work out things to much more, giving us nibbles is great and im all for it even when deals fall through and they do, we have had over 10 players take pictures in our famous kit to join someone else, cry like we all do but enjoy the people feeding us news rumours to other crap we enjoy like academy talk to whos doing whos windows, enjoy the page or go support Man City or some other shill club.
?