Fabrizio Romano has defended his decision to use his trademark “Here we go” announcement for Youssouf Fofana’s proposed move to Olympique Lyonnais, despite the transfer later collapsing and the player joining Sevilla instead.
Romano initially reported that Fofana was on his way to Olympique Lyonnais before subsequently confirming another “Here we go” for the midfielder’s move to Sevilla. The sequence led some social media users to question whether Romano’s transfer announcements still carried the same credibility.
Romano said the deal with Olympique Lyonnais had been completed from the perspective of the negotiations at the time he reported it. According to the journalist, Fofana had passed his medical examination and signed all the necessary documents with the French club. The parties were then waiting for Olympique Lyonnais to make the transfer official.
However, the move fell through because another player named Fofana, Malick Fofana, had not left the club before the French transfer window closed at 20:00. That meant Olympique Lyonnais no longer had an available registration place for Youssouf Fofana.
Malick Fofana eventually completed his own transfer after 23:00 local time, but it was too late to allow Youssouf Fofana’s move to Olympique Lyonnais to proceed. Sevilla then made an offer for the player and completed his signing.
Romano explained that his “Here we go” announcement is intended to indicate that an agreement has been reached between all parties, rather than to guarantee that every administrative step will be completed without difficulty.
“Here we go” means that an agreement has been reached between all parties; if the player later fails the medical examination or similar situations occur, it is not within his control. If you want absolutely certain information, you can wait for the official announcement; but if you want to understand the process of a negotiation, then these situations are also part of the process.
He added that this was a “here we go” he would have been prepared to publish 100 times, because Olympique Lyonnais had been ready to announce the transfer officially when the information was released. Romano argued that if he had waited for the club’s announcement rather than reporting the agreement himself, people would have questioned why he had not known about the deal earlier.
In his view, the transfer had been completed at that stage of the process, even though circumstances later caused it to collapse.
Romano also pointed out that he was not the only journalist to report the agreement with Olympique Lyonnais. He referred to reporting by Fabrice Hawkins, who described the same sequence of events, including the documents signed by the player with the French club.
Addressing comments from people who cited Boniface as another example, Romano questioned whether an announcement should no longer count as a “here we go” simply because a player has arrived in Milan and completed a medical examination.
Finally, Romano acknowledged that he makes mistakes every day, but insisted that the Fofana report was not one of them.
He said: “just use your brain to understand.”
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