Elon Musk Twitter policy bad news for some Man Utd and Man City fans this transfer window

There’s some bad news for Manchester City and Manchester United fans who enjoy getting lost in the madness of the transfer window. The January window is almost upon us, and clubs will already be a long way down the line in assessing potential targets. City and United are not exceptions, and in United’s case, in particular, there is an obvious need for fresh blood.

United have endured a mixed start to the season that has left them looking up at the top four, and while they spent big in the summer window, they are likely to invest further in the winter window to secure a return to Champions League football next season. Meanwhile, City have looked pretty good, but Pep Guardiola may feel as though a little more strength is required with a five-point gap currently standing between them and leaders Arsenal.

The window will come and go as usual for the clubs, but there is some bad news for fans. This window will be a little different for some fans, and particularly those who like to track the flights of incoming players. When transfers are about to go through, details usually emerge of players’ flights, with real-time flight tracking websites allowing fans to see when their prospective new player will be touching down in their new home city.

As far as tracking flights is concerned, nothing will change, but a big part of that process is sharing the details with other fans on Twitter, particularly on deadline day, when there is a rush for transfer details. And because of a Twitter rule change, sharing those details will no longer be possible, at least when the player is on a flight.

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted earlier this week: “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.”

That means fans won’t be able to tweet flight details or location while the player is about to board a flight, or while they are on the flight. The new Twitter rules mean fans will only be able to post the details after the player has touched down. Alternatively, they could vaguely discuss that a player ‘will board a flight to Manchester’, for example, without discussing the specific details or posting a link containing tracking information.