Anyone who has followed football a little longer will remember just how mind-numbingly dull it could get when the ball stopped rolling for weeks during the summer and winter breaks. Fans simply waited for the football-free spell to end and for the action to start again in the stadiums.
There was a transfer market "back then" too. And the buzz when your club unveiled a promising new signing felt much the same as it does now. Even so, market activity and, above all, the way it was covered in the media looked completely different.
So it was not unusual for even giants like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Manchester United to spring a new signing on their fans without any warning at all. The daily churn of rumours did not yet exist in that form "back then". Things moved more slowly and more quietly than they do today. Or at least they did until a certain Fabrizio Romano emerged around 15 years ago and changed not only football reporting itself, but above all the way the transfer market away from the pitch was covered.
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Fabrizio RomanoFabrizio Romano makes a name for himself as a transfer journalist
In 2011, Romano first made headlines when, as an 18-year-old youth journalist, he published exclusive information on the move of then La Masia talent Mauro Icardi from Barcelona to Sampdoria. It was Romano's first big "Here we go", even if he did not call it that at the time. Countless more followed.
Two years later, when Icardi left Genoa for Inter Milan, the Naples-born Italian again broke the news first. Romano had got the relevant information from Icardi's agent, whom he had previously met in Milan. That meant he learned the deal was done long before the established media and quickly built a reputation for himself in his homeland.
By 2012, Romano had found a home at Sky Italia, where he worked under Gianluca Di Marzio, already one of the industry's best-known transfer experts at the time. Before going self-employed in 2018, he focused largely on building his own network of agents, club officials and players. That network would later become the foundation of his transfer journalism model, built on speed and exclusivity.
By 2019 at the latest, Romano had made his definitive breakthrough. From then on, he posted consistently in English to reach a bigger audience across multiple platforms. His now legendary "Here we go" for a completed transfer became a global internet phenomenon and the Italian's trademark.
Thanks to his outstanding contacts with players, advisers and officials, Romano regularly showed a sharp instinct for calling impending moves. Fans quickly came to see him as the most reliable source on the transfer market. When Fabrizio posted a "Here we go", you knew it was happening. Many trusted him more than some established media outlets.
These days, Romano runs his own channels with tens of millions of followers and works, among others, for the English Guardian and the US company CBS Sports. His profile has grown so much that professional clubs now regularly hire him to unveil new signings in official social media announcement videos. According to his own statements, players often message him directly to ask where their team-mates are moving or who their new head coach will be.
Getty ImagesFabrizio Romano's posts on Reddit are blocked
Since this summer, though, the mood has shifted. Demand for high-quality transfer journalism still appears undiminished, which should give Romano the ideal conditions to keep adding to his image as an almost infallible transfer guru. Yet in public perception, the Italian no longer enjoys anything like the same uncontested standing. Criticism of transfer journalism itself is growing, especially as it becomes ever more excessive, and Romano's methods are coming under increasing scrutiny.
Critics have long accused the Italian of putting speed ahead of clean journalistic standards. To drive reach and clicks, Romano is known to post the result of major matches minutes before the final whistle, only to delete the post again if a late goal goes in. He also faced fierce criticism over his handling of Liverpool's deceased striker Diogo Jota. Romano published countless posts about his tragic death and was accused of trying to exploit the event for his own reach and income.
At the end of July this year, Reddit even banned Romano because, in the moderators' view, he "uses questionable journalistic practices". On the Reddit Soccer subsection, the Italian's posts can no longer be used as a source. The platform said the move was driven in part by the "growing dissatisfaction" of many users with Romano.
There are moral concerns too. The statement says: "Romano, among other things, gave a platform to Mason Greenwood, who came under criticism because of rape allegations." England star Greenwood was arrested in January 2022 on suspicion of rape, bodily harm and making death threats. His club at the time, Manchester United, suspended him. Roughly a year later, in February 2023, the charges were dropped.
Transfer of Yan Diomande sparks fierce wave of criticism of Romano
Then there is the recent public "row" between Romano and Sky transfer journalist Florian Plettenberg. It centres on the imminently upcoming move of RB Leipzig's Yan Diomande to Real Madrid. Romano had already posted his usual "Here we go" many days ago, suggesting the transfer was a done deal. Plettenberg strongly denied that and accused the Italian of passing off other people's exclusive information as his own.
Matters escalated when Romano published private messages between the pair and accused the Sky reporter of hypocrisy. "Maybe I should share messages from a few years ago in which you asked me: 'How can I increase my follower count?' or 'Your work is my motivation'," Romano wrote on his X account. Plettenberg hit back: "A sad development. Unlike you, I will treat our conversations confidentially. You used to be a role model for many. For me too. Unfortunately, you no longer are for me. I am simply grateful that I can myself be a role model for others."
Getty ImagesFabrizio Romano? "That is simply not how it is"
Romano's critics clearly touched a nerve, and RB Leipzig sporting managing director Marcel Schäfer confirmed as much on Wednesday. Speaking on the sidelines of the Bulls' training camp in Austria, he said: "I understand that it is a hot topic. But fundamentally I do not want to go into talks with the respective clubs in any more detail. If we have something to announce, then we would do so."
Schäfer still could not resist a dig at Romano's recent reporting. "What is clear is that one or two so-called transfer experts had already reported seven to ten days ago that something was 'done' or 'Here we go'. That is simply not how it is. These things involve talks with different parties."
Modern football has drifted further and further from its true core, the game on the pitch, and Romano has played his part in that. In its place has come a bidding war between transfer journalists to see who can sell which piece of information fastest on their own platforms.
At the very least, the public criticism of Romano suggests the trend may be moving away from blind consumption of this kind of news and towards a more questioning, higher-quality approach. Time will tell whether the Italian transfer guru takes the allegations on board and reconsiders his own methods, or whether the aura around Romano's omniscience has finally disappeared for good.