After speaking with the player this summer, transfer insider Fabrizio Romano refuted claims that he had a part in Joao Felix’s decision to join Barcelona, saying “it’s about Joao, not me.”
The transfer window is not what it previously was in the current day. Once upon a time, sides wouldn’t know if a player wanted to join them until they contacted their club or representation, but that’s not necessarily the case today.
Clubs might receive a hint that players are interested in a move through their social media activities.
A well-known example from just last season was Moises Caicedo. The Brighton midfielder essentially pleaded with the Seagulls to release him after learning that Arsenal had made an offer.
As it was, he didn’t manage to make the move, and a few months later went to Chelsea instead.
This summer, Atletico Madrid man Felix announced in an interview with Romano that he’d “love to join Barcelona” as the move was his “biggest dream”.
A little over a month later, the forward had made the loan switch to Camp Nou.
Having been asked about his involvement, Romano has since denied that he played a role in the move.
Romano denies involvement in move
“Absolutely zero role honestly and I don’t want any role into transfers,” he told the Daily Briefing.
Romano suggested he simply did his job, and it was Felix’s desire to make the move to Barcelona that made it happen, and the club would have been made aware of that desire anyway.
“I just did my job, getting an interview with Joao was a nice scoop but the deals depend on players, agents, clubs and not journalists in my opinion,” Romano added.
“If it wasn’t me, it was probably another newspaper or journalist to get that interview. If Joao got the move to Barca is because he wanted that strongly, he sent clear message and it’s about Joao, not me.”
Barcelona didn’t have to sign Felix
Romano obviously has a big audience, and that may help news spread to the right places quickly. As such, Barcelona might have been made aware that Felix wanted to join because of his interview.
However, the La Liga giants didn’t have to sign him.
They could have learned that he wanted to join and done nothing about it if they didn’t want him.
However, they clearly did want him, as they wouldn’t have signed him otherwise.
As such, whether or not Romano did play some role, it was the club and the player that made the move happen, rather than the interview itself.
