)
Fabrizio Romano has established himself as arguably the most reliable source for the biggest transfer news in world football and here's all you need to know about 'Mr. Here We Go'.
Fabrizio Romano is one of the most acclaimed football journalists of the 21st century.
Romano is widely regarded as the "most trusted" transfer-related pundit in the sport.
In this article, Pulse Sports will reveal top facts about football’s no.1 transfer guru - Fabrizio Romano.
)
)
19:08 - 24.08.2023
Chelsea’s Pochettino wants two more signings despite €400m summer
After a busy summer of incoming transfers, Chelsea's Mauricio Pochettino has said the club still needs to add two more signings to the nine new faces at the club this window
)
19:25 - 30.08.2023
Chelsea agree deal to sign Manchester City's Cole Palmer for £45m
Manchester City winger Cole Palmer is on his way to Chelsea for £45m according to reports.
No specific dates have been for the upcoming summer window just yet.
However, the transfer dates follow a familiar pattern.
Last year, the Premier League opened the summer window two-and-a-half weeks after the domestic campaign ended.
The 2024 summer transfer window opened on Wednesday June 14 and is set to officially shut down at 11pm on Friday September 1.
According to Sky Sports, Europe's top five leagues are expected to close their transfer window on the same date.
Last summer, a host of mega-money deals was concluded like Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal, Jude Bellingham signing for Real Madrid, Moises Caicedo to Chelsea, Josko Gvardiol to Manchester City, Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, Neymar to Al Hilal, amongst others - all of which was reported by Fabrizio Romano.
Fabrizio Romano: 13 things to know about football's famous ‘Here We Go’ Transfer guru
1. Who is Fabrizio Romano?
)
Fabrizio Romano is an acclaimed Italian sports journalist.
Romano specializes in news about football transfers and is famously known for his use of the tagline "Here we go!", which he used when announcing a transfer deal.
2. Fabrizio Romano Age
)
Fabrizio Romano was born in Naples, Italy on February 21, 1993.
He attended Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.
As of 2024 he is 31 years old.
3. How did Fabrizio Romano become famous?
)
Romano started writing about football in 2009, while still studying in high school.
As a teenager, Romano wrote about soccer, hoping to have his stories published on niche Italian soccer websites.
His career as a football transfer journalist began in 2011 when out of nowhere, an aspiring agent from Barcelona, who had come across Romano’s work, contacted him.
This agent, who aimed to represent two young players had asked Romano to write a profile on them and publish.
Fabrizio revealed that he had no idea how an aspiring Italian agent in Barcelona got hold of his name, or his phone number.
“He was working at La Masia” — the famed Barcelona academy — “and he wanted to become an agent,” Romano said in an interview as per NY Times.
“He was hoping to convince two young players to let him represent them, and he asked me if I would write a profile of them.”
The players were Gerard Deulofeu, and the talented teenage striker Mauro Icardi.
Romano wrote the profile, which helped the agent secure the clients, and they maintained contact.
In the summer of 2011, Romano made a huge breakthrough by exclusively breaking the news that Icardi was leaving Barcelona for Sampdoria.
Though it was his “first news,” the impact was not as widespread as Icardi was just an 18-year-old youth team player joining a struggling team in Italy’s second division.
However, Romano’s big break came in November 2013 after the agent reportedly called him again.
Showing appreciation to Romano for his earlier assistance, the agent shared another exclusive that Icardi had agreed a transfer to Inter Milan the following summer.
“He said I had helped him at the start of his career, and now it was his turn to help me,” Romano said.
)
Romano published this news on an Inter Milan fan site, six months before the official announcement and that was the turning point in Romano’s career.
“That was the time everything changed,” Fabrizio Romano said.
He eventually left Naples for Milan and transitioned from being a freelance journalist to bagging a decent job at Sky Sport Italia under the tutelage of his mentor and veteran football journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, a senior Italian journalist who specialized in the transfer market before Romano dreamed of it.
Coincidentally, his first assignment was covering Icardi’s physical at Inter Milan.
Di Marzio is said to have directly educated Fabrizio to be his successor, including connecting Fabrizio with many of his relationships at European clubs.
)
"I started all this with Gianluca Di Marzio. It taught me a lot," Fabrizio was quoted to have said.
"His mentality is not only checking information with the club, but also with agents and transfer brokers. I think the secret is to have a good relationship with everyone. We have so many sources at the moment."
New York Times reported that Romano helped Di Marzio build, and fill, his personal website.
In return, he learned the finer points of his craft, particularly the value of the traditional shoe-leather journalism that had long been deployed to harvest those precious hints and whispers.
“For years and years, I would go every day around the city,” Romano said. “Restaurants, hotels, anywhere football people would meet.”
)
But while the methods had endured, Romano’s intuition helped him see that the landscape of news reporting was quickly changing.
He quickly realized not only that social media could serve as both an outlet and a source, but that he had keen sense for which sort of content worked on which kind of social media platforms, hence, his obsession with high quality graphics and creatives.
“For example, I used Instagram initially as a personal thing,” Romano told NY Times.
“I would post a picture of a nice sunset, a good dinner. But all the time, in the replies, people would ask me about transfers. Nobody was interested in my life. I’m not a star. I am a journalist, and a journalist is an intermediary.”
With his replies in his comments section filled with interest from fans around the world, asking for updates on teams in England, France and Spain, as well as Italy, Romano began seeking stories away from home.
4. Fabrizio believes his ‘Big break’ globally came in 2020
)
While other media outlets have cited 2013 as the year of Fabrizio’s rise in the global soccer space, the 30-year-old Italian sees things rather differently.
To Romano, the great leap into the global soccer conversation came in 2020, after Bruno Fernandes, a talented Portuguese midfielder, was linked with a move to Manchester United the previous summer. Romano had consistently played down the move.
Although, a few months later, United made its move for Fernandes, and when Romano announced the deal with his customary “Here we go”, the reaction on social media was massive.
)
However, Romano does not claim to have had that story first as “Fernandes to United” had been bubbling for months, and had been extensively reported in the weeks before it was completed.
To Fabrizio Romano, ‘Speed’ is not where true value lies in a social media world, and particularly when it comes to the crazy drama of football’s transfer market.
This explains why Fabrizio would sometimes delay to announce deals confirmed by multiple acclaimed media outlets.
NY Times revealed that Fabrizio believes that what followers want more than anything, is to know that what they are reading is “true”.
“I do not have a deadline to meet or a paper to sell,” Romano said.
“I write things when they are ready.”
5. Fabrizio’s ‘Here We Go’ Tagline is Trademarked
As mentioned earlier Fabrizio Romano is known for his use of the tagline "Here we go!", used when announcing a transfer deal.
)
Fabrizio’s famous tagline has also reportedly been trademarked and can also be seen on his bio on Twitter and Instagram.
Speaking to Transfermrkt about his trademark tag, Romano said:
“I’ve always loved social networks, but never thought about creating such a brand. I’m not really a “slogan type”, if that’s what you want to call it, but prefer other forms of communication.
"That was born by chance. I just wrote it at the end of a tweet and from that moment on I always got the question if a negotiation has the “Here we go” status now. This made my readers happy and I decided to keep it and always give the saying the importance it deserves and only use it when it’s really possible – always taking into account all the variables of the market.”
6. He is the most-followed sports journalist in the world
)
As of May 2024, Fabrizio Romano is the most followed sports journalist in the world.
Fabrizio’s meteoric rise has seen him grow from from 1.3 million followers in August 2020 to an incredible 20.3 million followers in August 2023 on his official X page where he is mostly active.
)
As of May 2024, he has nearly 28 million followers on Instagram and boasts more than 17 million followers on Facebook.
On TikTok, he boasts over 10.8 million followers, and on YouTube, he has nearly 2 million subscribers worldwide, where he regularly uploads videos of Transfer updates.
Because of his reputation and social media following, several football clubs have asked him to participate in player announcement videos.
7. Fabrizio Romano named “Bruno Fernandes to Manchester United” as his biggest ‘Here We Go’ announcement
)
Romano has named the Bruno Fernades transfer from Sporting CP to Manchester United in 2020 as his biggest ‘Here We Go’ announcement.
“The most exciting deal, because the negotiation between Manchester United and Sporting CP lasted a very long time. When I received the picture of Fernandes' agent on a plane leaving for Manchester, I wrote ‘Here we go!,” he told Skrill TV.
“I remember the reaction of the Man United fans – it was something incredible.”
CLICK HERE TO WIN N1 MILLION FREE ON PULSE SPORTS PREDICT AND WIN
8. Fabrizio Romano’s “Ronaldo back to Manchester United” announcement is his biggest Transfer post of all time on X
Romano’s announcement of Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United on August 27, 2021, remains his biggest and most engaged football Transfer post of all time on the X platform.
)
The post by Fabrizio Romano on X amassed an incredible 591,000 likes, 148,000 reposts, 50.4K quotes and over 3.4K bookmarks, as of August 2023.
9. Fabrizio Romano's “Messi to Inter Miami” ‘Here We Go’ announcement was his biggest Transfer post on X in 2023
Romano’s confirmation of Lionel Messi’s transfer to MLS franchise club Inter Miami from Paris Saint Germain following his contract expiry in June is his biggest and most-engaged football Transfer post of 2023 on the X platform.
)
Fabrizio Romano made the ‘Here We Go’ announcement on the X platform on June 7, 2023, and so far the post has amassed over 532,000 likes, 72.4K reposts, 59.1K quotes, and over 2.3K bookmarks as of August 2023.
10. Fabrizio Romano is the one of the world's most influential users on the X platform in 2024
)
As at August 2023, Fabrizio Romano was one of the world's Top 2 most influential accounts on the X platform.
Research by Notus revealed the Top 10 most influential accounts on the Elon Musk-owned platform.
)
Romano who was initially no.1 at the beginning of August 2023 slipped into second place with 4 billion social capital (a metric used to measure how much influence an individual or user has based on who, how and when others engage with them), behind Why you should have a Cat who is currently on 4.7B social capital.
Only one other sports-related account on X made it the Top 30 and that is - Out of Context Football with 1.3B social capital.
The only other sports-related accounts on X that make it in the Top 50 are ESPN FC(872.6M social capital), BR Football(824.9M social capital), and Madrid Xtra(696M social capital).
However, as of May 2024, Romano slipped to 21st place, with his social per capital estimated at 38.1M, as per Notus.
The only other sports-related account on X currently in the Top 30 on Notus is Clutch Points with its social per capital estimated at 59.7M.
11. He reportedly makes at least 50 phone calls a day and sleeps for only 5 hours
)
Like other journalists, Fabrizio Romano has experienced challenges with obtaining information.
However, Romano’s own issues with details of player transfers makes the difference between him and others.
Fabrizio reportedly sleeps for five hours a day throughout the transfer window.
Fabrizio Romano also has a different way of working, which makes him sometimes more trusted than other journalists in determining player transfer issues.
)
In his job, Fabrizio Romano is said to make at least 50 phone calls per day hunting for transfer information while his iphone constantly buzzes with incoming texts, messages, replies and engagements from his social media posts every minute.
Fabrizio is also understood to often take trips to hotels and club headquarters to meet player agents or sporting directors.
When asked what team he supports, the Italian transfer guru revealed that he is actually a fan of Championship side Watford FC.
The Hornets have Italian owners in the Pozzo family, which only added to his love for the club.
)
"Honestly... I support Watford because it has been my club in FIFA and Football manager since 15 years!" Romano tweeted in 2019.
"And because of their Italian ownership! I’d like to come back at Vicarage soon."
"I was watching live the famous match, Watford vs Leicester, Vicarage Road,"
Amid speculation that Romano is also a fan of Serie A Napoli FC due to his background, the 30-year-old Italian instead revealed when he started to support the English club.
Sports BIBLE revealed that earlier this year, Romano was invited for a special tour of Vicarage Road - ten years on from its most memorable moment when Troy Deeney scored a dramatic, last-gasp play-off semi-final winner.
"It was incredible, the feeling when Troy Deeney scored the goal the last-minute goal after Manuel Almunia saving the penalty in the key match of the play-offs was unbelievable.” Romano recalled via YouTube.
"The feeling I had when we had the famous Troy Deeney goal was something unforgettable to me. So that’s how it started for me to support Watford."
12. Fabrizio Romano Net Worth
)
While it cannot be categorically known how much he is worth, Wtfoot estimated Fabrizio Romano's net worth to be €2million (£1.6m) as of August 2023.
The aforementioned source states he earns $300,000 (£245,000) a year primarily from journalism.
However, Fabrizio Romano also makes his money through his work for various news platforms, as well as his YouTube channel and podcast.
Romano has a “Transfer Deadline Day show” which he hosts and is sponsored by popular beer brand Heineken - who are also the sponsors of the UEFA Champions League and for whom he is currently an ambassador.
)
)
A viral screenshot also revealed that Fabrizio Romano will be included in the upcoming EA SPORTS FC 24 as part of the Career Mode.
However, there is still no official confirmation yet but fans of the game are very excited for his inclusion nonetheless.
This month, Fabrizio Romano’s massive social media influence also saw him get signed by ever-growing streaming platform KICK, having streamed multiple Deadline Days on Twitch.
13. Fabrizio Romano Awards
)
Fabrizio Romano won the first-ever Football Journalist of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards in November 2022.
After receiving the Award, Fabrizio Romano said, "Your incredible amount of votes, your daily support, your messages and crazy reactions to any transfer news or football story, together with the prestigious Jury’s decision… made this dream come true."
He added, "Winning the ‘Best Football Journalist’ Award on its first edition ever means something unbelievable to me, especially because there are really so many great friends/top journalists in our beloved football world - and they absolutely deserved this Award too!"
In 2022, Romano was included in the European Forbes 30 Under 30 list for media and marketing.
Romano is also expected to scoop home other awards later in his remarkable career as one of the greatest football transfer specialists in the 21st century.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)