Italian transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has backed away from the idea that he had a role to play in Joao Felix’s move to Barcelona this summer.
The Portuguese forward was registered as a Barcelona player with just minutes remaining in the transfer window this summer, after completing a loan move from Atletico Madrid. Reportedly he has taken a major pay cut in order to do so.
Felix was always likely to be on his way out after declaring to Fabrizio Romano in July that his ‘dream’ move. Caught Offside asked Romano how much of a role he played in the deal, with the Italian responding on Substack.
“Absolutely zero role honestly and I don’t want any role into transfers. 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.”
“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.”
The 23-year-old made a big impact on his debut for Barcelona, scoring and creating another with a dummy for Robert Lewandowski. For Felix, it seems as if he had been angling for the move for some time, but applying that media pressure probably settled an exit from Atletico, if not an offer from another side.
