The fact the Trinity-Mirror group are the owners of the Echo and the story was released at 00:01, suggests to me it is information supplied directly to them from the club. It was obviously embargoed until we passed midnight. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we agree a fee and enter talks with Sigurdsson on the same day we accept a bid from Spurs for Barkley. The fact Spurs were making noises about Sigurdsson last week, very much seemed like a strategy to force Everton's hand on Barkley, as they know he is one of our key priorities. From the club's point of view it helps to deflect from Barkley moving on. Obviously the window doesn't open until July 1st, so I'm unsure if this would prevent us taking ownership of a new player before this date. It may simply just mean that we can't register the player with the FA until that date.
