Fabrizio Romano was only 18 when he announced the news of his first movement. After spending six months writing for a small online page in his local Italy, an agent called him from Barcelona with internal information.
He worked at La Masia and met some players who would have well-known names. The Italian agent was looking to make moves in the field but needed the help of a young Fabrizio.
That’s how he played the movement game and once the first story came, he never looked back.
Speaking to SPORTbible, Romano recalled, “He said, “If you can, I know you’re a young journalist, could you do an article about two players I’m talking to?”.
“It’s Gérard Deulofeu and Mauro Icardi. I started this appointment with him and he helped me because when Icardi came to Italy to Sampdoria and then to Inter, I had the news. The new Icardi for me the first big one. “
“I had the news out of the window; the agent called me in November and told me that they had reached an agreement with Inter and that Inter would close the deal with Sampdoria. He said, ‘You can say that the deal is almost for the player to register not in January, but next summer.
“That’s how it started and I slowly enjoyed the role of journalist. The moving market is a jungle I say, one is expecting the unexpected every day and I love that feeling.
“In my opinion, it’s like betting football on a Champions League game, and when you announce that kind of news, it’s like scoring a goal in the Champions League final. “
Ten years have passed and Romano, now 27, has the reference type for all vital transfer news.
If you need to know what’s going on in the market, simply update your Twitter account, where you provide updates to your 1. 9 million followers.
With many contacts in European football, it turns out that Fabrizio is aware of each and every existing agreement, in fact, knows so much that he probably knows your baby’s sex before you don’t even know a name.
Having been put on this pedestal after a “fantastic journey” in a non-easy industry, the journalist father and Sky Sport Italia have the tension to meet.
That’s why he only sleeps five hours a night from 5 to 10 in the movement window, thinking about his paintings in the same way that Antonio Conte and José Mourinho are obsessed with 24-hour football.
From the moment you wake up, you are glued to your phone, starting to receive calls and send messages to consult with agents and managers.
“Every day you have a new touch and you can meet other people interested in transfers. In Italy, if you go to restaurants or hotels, you can receive news and meet other people.
“Having the right appointments is the key. If you have smart relationships with other football people and the moving market, you’re on the right track. You respect them and they will pay you back respect. “
“I have one that I accept as true with a hundred consistent with penny, just because I’ve known them for many years and they know I would never create a challenge for them.
“I take on the threat that the reporter can break the news and I lose the latest news, but I have to be respectful of my friends.
“At the same time, I say, ‘You have to tell me the truth,’ so it’s a matter of respect. I have a fair date with a lot of agents and I’m leaving to leave Italy, England and Spain. .
“If you get something fake, for example, when a player rejects a move, the day after your “death. “One day you’re the king and the morning you’re “dead. “You have to be fair to people. “
Honesty and integrity is what Romano is all about. His technique for journalism is simple: be more accurate than being the first to be on the news.
He said: “It is highly unlikely that he will be the first, covering the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and bundesliga. My purpose is to be correct, so other people say, ‘When I see something from Fabrizio, I know it actually happens. ‘
“I don’t need to sell fake news, it’s not in my mindset. It is very unlikely that I will do well in the moving market. If you only have canopy to one team, I think it is easier, you can meet the president, the director, some agents, players, you can do it at the highest level.
“At my level, you will need to be in a position to consult with agents, managers and intermediary agents. It’s smart because it can communicate with many other people, but it’s also crazy because you may want to send a lot of messages.
“I never need to sell dreams, just what’s really going on in the moving market. It’s not about me. No matter who I am, it’s the vital thing I do.
“I feel a wonderful duty, but it’s not about me or Gianluca Di Marzio, we’re a team and we paint together. That’s why we’re strong, like a football team. Football and the play market are very similar. “
Although it’s not long before he says it’s the paintings that count the most, Romano has become a kind of cult hero thanks to the slogan “come on!”It appears in all your tweets during a transfer.
“I have to be honest, I don’t exactly move, but two years ago I was talking about Manchester United, IArray
“There have been many updates on the same move because clubs paint like this; to choose a more sensible player, you have to wait a bit and you have smart and bad moments. You want time.
“I’ve been tweeting day after day about this news and then, when the deal closed, I tweeted ‘OK, come on!”-yet it’s over and it’s over.
‘Immediately, other people go crazy with this one’, so the next day, when I talk about other clubs like Tottenham and Real Madrid, they all say, ‘Tell us here!
“I like it. I didn’t plan anything for a logo or anything because it’s not in my style. The enthusiasts gave me the ‘here we go!’ It’s probably casual. “
He’s still a celebrity, but he’s harassed by enthusiasts desperate to find out who they hire.
Answering can be tedious and tedious, Romano loves everything.
“That’s my favorite part. It’s responding to everyone, but I look at replying as much as I can, if they send me a message on Instagram or Twitter about a transfer.
“I look to answer every day because to me, feeling with other people is very important. I know what it means to be a football fan. I don’t feel like a star, I’m a general guy who gives movement. “news and I love football too.
“When you see other people asking for news from their player or club and you give them news and they’re very animated, IArray likes that feeling.
“Without the fans, the moving market wouldn’t be that important. Seeing how they react to the news of the moves, I think that’s the most charming component of my work.
“Manchester United enthusiasts sent me millions of messages about Jadon Sancho this summer. For them, I hope he comes, but I think it’s hard. “
Now we are waiting for the unexpected regarding the move-in window. Romano never thought we’d see Cristiano Ronaldo in Serie A, while Ever Banega at Inter Milan Sevilla some other play that surprised him the most.
On the other hand, there is the truth that transactions fail when everything seemed finished and dusted off.
Players replace their minds at the last second; medical examinations would possibly fail and negotiations would possibly stall.
Adrien Rabiot’s planned transfer to Barcelona does not materialize despite a total agreement, and David Silva turning his back on Lazio in favor of a return to Spain, are the two examples Romano uses to highlight how temporarily things can change.
The Royal Society has hijacked David Silva’s contract!Lazio had a full agreement on a three-year contract and medical care in Rome. Lazio is furious, according to the fact: flushed :: large_blue_circle: #transfers
“Free agents are the most damaging players because they can replace their minds at the last minute. It can take place where the player, with his family, can say, ‘OK tomorrow, I’m going to replace, I need to move to another country. ”and they can do it right away.
“That’s the good look of the play market. If you need anything else, I’m telling you to play in FIFA or Football Manager Career mode, where you have two minutes and you tell the player without any problems.
“In genuine life, you have to perceive that anything can happen. It’s a component of the game and you have to settle for that. “
Extended due to the interruption of the season through COVID-19, this year’s move-in deadline will be October 5. Jim White will pull out his characteristic yellow tie and Romano will strive to know what’s going on.
In less than two weeks, how stressful is the last day of the window instead?
“It’s more complicated when it comes to watching the news of global movements, I have to say. If you control the movement market in Italy, the last day is not exactly like in England. In Italy, the most productive clubs paint before the deadline and it is the half-table clubs that will do the last business.
“The most productive clubs like Inter and Juventus don’t buy players in the last day, that’s not our mentality.
“So the deadline got crazier when I covered Premier League transfers and transfers from European football in general.
“Last January we had [Odion] Ighalo. I was in Milan with his agent, at lunchtime, he told me he was waiting for Tottenham and then it was a deal with Manchester United.
“Anything can happen, that’s why I’m looking to focus on England and the Premier League moving market on the deadline. “
Featured symbol credit: Fabrizio Romano / Bleacher Report
Categories: Football, Football News, Transfer News, Italy
Josh is a sports journalist specializing in soccer and wrestling, published through Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News, he covers professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the Biggest names in the box, adding the first British interview with The Hardy Boyz after his return to WWE. He has never worn a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.