The guy, you reported, initially made it free from slavery (7)
I believe the answer is:
manumit
'free from slavery' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the guy you reported initially made' is the wordplay.
'the guy' becomes 'man' (guy can informally mean a man).
'reported' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'initially made' becomes 'mit' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'you' sounds like 'u'.
'man'+'u'+'mit'='MANUMIT'
'it' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for manumit that I've seen before include "Set free from slavery - anti-mum (anag)" , "release" , "deliver" .)