Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has been mentioned by Danish media as a possible key player in an emerging transfer scandal and of plagiarim as well due to his information about Roony Bardghji
Copenhagen’s Roony Bardghji is one of Europe’s most talked-about young prospects. However, his career point significantly turned up when he scored against Manchester United in the Champions League group stage earlier this season.
Football journalist Fabrizio Romano accused of taking money and spreading rumors about players and plagiarism as Roony Bardghji controversy blows up
🇸🇪 Roony Bardghji, strange case for one of best talents in Europe. From being top scorer with 10 goals for Copenhagen to… zero minutes in first games of 2024.
Reason is that Bardghji has no intention to sign new long term deal — from the summer, he will only have 18 months… pic.twitter.com/Ywed0GVJch
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 28, 2024
Regretfully, since the start of the season, the 18-year-old Swede has not been a part of Copenhagen’s starting lineup. Bardghji’s current contract with Copenhagen is set to expire in 2025, as is widely known. However, there hasn’t been any official notification regarding a new deal as of yet.
The 18-year-old’s name has been linked to possible teams like Manchester United and Barcelona. However, so far, these relationships have produced no outcomes. During the game against Nordsjalland on Monday night, supporters couldn’t resist chanting the player’s name. However, the squad’s top scorer from the first half of the season was left off the field once more.
🎙️ Jacob Neestrup a démenti l'info de Fabrizio Romano, qui annonçait un futur départ de Roony Bardghji à cause du manque de temps de jeu : « C'est faux. Je mets en avant les onze joueurs qui me semblent les meilleurs. »#fcklive pic.twitter.com/X6w1jfCHKy
— FC Copenhague 🇨🇵 (@FCCopenhagueFR) March 1, 2024
What statement made by Fabrizio Romano sparked the transfer scandal?
Romano told his sizable fan base earlier this week that Copenhagen was not considering its star player for the first team because of a contract conflict.
“Roony Bardghji, a strange case for one of the best talents in Europe. From being the top scorer with 10 goals for Copenhagen to… zero minutes in the first games of 2024. “The reason is that Bardghji has no intention to sign a new long-term deal — from the summer, he will only have 18 months left on his contract with several top clubs monitoring him,” Romano stated on social media that Bardghji had no plans to sign a new long-term deal.
𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗚𝗢!
Fabrizio Romano has been accused of spreading rumors about players on social media in return for money. Danish media also allege clubs would pay Romano thousands of dollars for mentions on Romano’s social media accounts.https://t.co/hq4rXs5oft
— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) March 1, 2024
Copenhagen refutes the allegations
Copenhagen, however, categorically refuted the facts that the Italian journalist had reported. Romano and his transfer team consequently became the focus of a sensational investigation in the Danish media. Editor at Tipsbladet, Troels Bager Thogersen, made a startling accusation against Romano and his group.
He claims that they have made an effort to work out sponsorship deals with football teams. Clubs would have to pay for Romano’s social media mentions. Moreover, he clarified that the Bardghji story had been planted by the player’s representation.
The journalist said that even though Fabrizio Romano is worshipped on social media, he frequently obtains his information from player representatives and ends up serving as their spokesperson, according to Thogersen. He further stated that in this particular instance, it appears that the player’s entourage wishes to exert pressure on FC Copenhagen by sending out a message. Thogersen termed it a business and stated that this cannot be called journalism as clubs and agents are paying for the publicity.
Romano has yet to respond
Romano has declined the Danish magazine’s request for an interview thus far. The 31-year-old Italian is the most famous football journalist worldwide. He has two million YouTube subscribers, twenty million X (formerly Twitter) followers, and 27 million Instagram followers.
Another complaint against the Italian journalist is his alleged plagiarism of news and many journalists have accused Fabrizio Romano of stealing news articles from other prominent reporters.
Marcel van der Kraan of De Telegraaf once accused Fabrizio of being a ‘copy-paste’ journalist. He also said, “All of Europe thinks that Romano is above everyone, but he only steals exclusives from journos in all countries.” The Dutch journalist accused Fabrizio of lacking authenticity.