I went to check on the original source. This is from an article that follows a podcast with Romano. In the podcast, which I listened to, none of this is mentioned. They talk about Kayky, Zinchenko (that Barcelona wanted him last summer, about how professional he is etc) but that’s it about City. In the piece, there is one paragraph for about a dozen different clubs. The title for City’s paragraph: “Man City prepping for big summer?”... And then he says the left back is an OPTION and the midfielder was the only guarantee. Something doesn’t click. But then you look at what he’s saying about the other clubs, and it’s all a bunch of obvious statements. That’s the deal with Romano: he’s reliable about transfers when it comes to minutes or hours before they’re announced. Months in advance? Not so much.