Can understand you being cynical/critical about the info provided by The Esk. I'm convinced though that his info always has been genuine. I'm also convinced we talked to Mourinho and he was interested, although we were always the back up option. Also no doubt here we were very serious with Witsel, but it didn't happen for certain reasons. As for Mata, let's just wait till September 1, still haven't ruled it out personally.
But even if nothing comes off from all of this info, I know for a fact his info came from very solid sources. As others said before, it's a very fluid market and things can change completely at the very last second. One thing The Esk might by guilty of is being to confident too soon. Maybe he posted his info a bit too soon and is getting crucified over it for that.