I usually got the Manica Post every Friday. I was always after the Weekender section to read about football transfers. Had Wesley Sneijder signed for Man United? Who on earth is Alexis Sanchez, and why is he going to FC Barcelona? I digested the rumor-mill speculating, creating fantasy teams in my head, waiting for the next Friday to see if any of it had materialized. Sometimes when I was lucky, my dad would get the Sunday Times and I’d get another dose of transfer news.
Then my folks subscribed to DSTv. This was an excellent experience. I had the latest transfers now on the palm, just by tuning in on channel 200 for the daily Transfer Show brought by Sky Sports. Jim White and his yellow tie on the screen became staple viewing in the household.
As the internet era began to take shape, websites such as Goal.com and Bleacher Report became our go-to sources for transfer rumors and football news. I still relied on Sky Sports for validation and the more authoritative updates. If Goal.com said Manchester United were interested in Arturo Vidal or Arjen Robben, I wasn’t necessarily convinced. If Sky reported it though, I knew we were in business. Still, these websites acted as a conduit for the transfer journalists. And none became more popular than Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.
Fabrizio was a former Sky Italia employee working under Gianluca di Marzio. He took it upon himself to roam around the hotels and streets of Milan, meeting up with top directors and agents to get scoops on the latest transfers, particularly in Italy. His first big transfer story was Mauro Icardi’s move from Sampdoria to Internazionale. From that point onwards, the Fabrizio train was up and running. Going into the 2020s, Fabrizio held the transfer news space in a chokehold with his Twitter account. His catchphrase ‘here we go’ became a seal of approval for transfers. A transfer could be rumored for weeks. Other journalists could report that negotiations were taking place. Players could supposedly be ‘close’ to signing. If Fabrizio hadn’t cosigned on these rumors himself, fans would be wary to celebrate too early.
Amidst the jovial fans celebrating their latest signings, a strong section reached out to Fabrizio for advice on their personal lives. “Fabrizio, when I’m getting married?” “Fabrizio, will I graduate?” It made for some hilarious reading. Fabrizio is not just a journalist now. He has become a global phenomenon with 28.9 million followers on X.
One of the criticisms surrounding Romano is his sheer volume of updates. Something is always happening on his timeline – a player has spoken to a club, a club has contacted an agent, a club is in love with player X, talks have been underway between intermediaries, personal terms of players, one bid is submitted and another has been rejected, scheduled and completed medicals… For some fans, this has taken some of the fun out of transfer windows. They yearn for the good old days. But were the good old days actually better?
Before, we had no idea who clubs were targeting. We simply had to wait for the next edition of the Manica Post or for a Sky Sports announcement (and even then, load shedding could easily get in the way). We were constantly looking for transfer updates like they were some sort of hidden treasure. There was mystery, speculation, uncertainty.
And perhaps that was part of the fun. Today we might have different a problem. We know everything as long as our phones are on. The transfer might not even be completed, but we already know the salary, contract length, the agent’s commission, the medical schedule and what the player’s dog feels about the move.
So how much information is too much? I spent almost of my childhood starved of transfer updates. Now that we have it all whenever we want it, there are moments when I miss the days when I didn’t know. And the problem might be not necessarily Fabrizio. He didn’t create this obsession, but he became excellent at feeding it. The problem might be us.
Humanity, man? An interesting concept!
