Fabrizio Romano is a household name in the football world. The catchphrase, ‘Here we go!’ which he normally uses in announcing or confirming a completed transfer deal on his Twitter account is fast becoming a brand. The 28-year old has established himself as an authority in reliable football transfer news. His 8.8 million followers on Twitter and many others across other social media platforms trust him for the most accurate transfer news.
He was born on February, 21, 1993. When he clocked 18, he started his journalistic career by writing on small websites in Italy. Six months later, an Italian agent in Barcelona asked Fabrizio to help him write an article on two players he is talking with at La Masia. At this point in time, he was working at La Masia, his work included writing on the transfer of young players from the Barcelona’s academy, this afforded him close relationship with the players.
One of such players was Mauro Icardi, the Argentine striker who currently plays for Paris saint Germain. He was the player with which Fabrizio made his debut in football transfer news. According to Fabrizio, he got the information outside the window! At that time, in 2013, Icardi joined Inter Milan. The accuracy of this news built a solid foundation for Fabrizio’s career, as he got connected with other senior journalists.
Like other journalists, he is faced with the arduous task of obtaining first-hand and top-level information. However, Fabrizio stands tall among other sport writers owing to his ever credible news in the area of players’ transfers. This has been attributed to his workaholic nature of work in keeping tabs with his sources, as it is said that he manages to sleep only five hours a day (5 am-10 am) throughout the transfer window.
Fabrizio has become like an oracle of football transfer news. Football fans will not believe any transfer news until he tweets, ‘here we go!’. Bleacher reports claimed that he has a different way of working which has distinguished him from other journalists. Unlike others, he is not under pressure to be the first to break the news, for him, it is accuracy before speed. He makes sure that his findings are correct before speaking about any transfer issue. As long as it remains uncertain, he will keep quiet.
He is also said to be making at least 50 calls per day during each transfer window. He also facilitates in-person meetings with player agents and sporting directors around hotels and club headquarters.
Fabrizio’s rise to stardom can’t be unhinged from the role of his mentor, Gianluca Di Marzio, a senior Italian journalist who was a transfer market specialist before Romano. Di Marzio is the son of Gianni Di Marzio, a top football manager in Italy. He was responsible for directly tutoring Fabrizio whilst also connecting him with his many relationships at European clubs.
Fabrizio confirmed that he learnt a lot from Di Marzio, as he had drawn from his immense wealth of experience. He maintained that beyond keeping tabs with the clubs, one needs to build a good relationship with everyone, including agents and transfer brokers. This strategy has currently given him a lot of sources.
Fabrizio’s prowess in the transfer market niche is clear to everyone. He was the first journalist to report Zlatan Ibrahimovich’s move to AC Milan. He was also at the forefront of reports of moves for Carlo Ancelotti to Everton and Claudio Ranieri to Sampdoria. He was also the first to shock the football public with the news of Zinedine Zidane’s decision to leave Real Madrid, among many other transfer deal news which eventually came true.
