Since the introduction of the transfer windows in 2002, the frenzied cattle market of player migration has increasingly become a micro-industry within football itself. It has also changed the way news is delivered by the written media.<\/p>\n

We are all at the mercy of \u2018monitoring\u2019, \u2018keeping tabs on\u2019, \u2018linked with\u2019, \u2018scooping for\u2019, \u2018talks progressing\u2019, \u2018preparing a bid\u2019, \u2018leading\u2019 or \u2018joining the race for\u2019, \u2018wantaway\u2019, \u2018advanced talks\u2019, \u2018personal terms\u2019, \u2018closing in on\u2019, \u2018set to sign for\u2019 and the one we all wait for: \u2018Done deal\u2019. All of this while we\u2019re being hypnotised by the Sky Sports News ticker. And don\u2019t we absolutely love it?<\/p>\n

When asking my first-year BCU Sports Journalism students in 2019 about the reporters they admired, most went for the obvious names: a series of national journalists, any number of local \u2018newspaper\u2019 (in the traditional sense) reporters or the occasional broadcaster.<\/p>\n

When I asked the same question a few months ago at least half of the cohort cited Fabrizio Romano. The transfer specialist has more than 10 million Twitter followers. In social media context, he\u2019s bigger than Tottenham Hotspur (6.5million followers) and 13 other Premier League clubs.<\/p>\n

Transfers have become a social media play-thing. Some outsource to specialist production firms, some use their own resources and staff. Clubs fall over themselves to find new ways to promote their new players. Ben Mee\u2019s arrival at Brentford was accompanied by an arty video. Charlton parroted TV sitcom The Office to announce the arrival of David Payne, the third Swindon player they had signed. The video was swiftly removed following a sense-of-humour failure in Wiltshire.<\/p>\n

Every transfer is a creative opportunity. Since 2019 Roma, for instance, have marked each player signing alongside a video featuring the faces and details of missing children \u2013 with the aim of generating publicity that could result in someone, somewhere, offering valuable information about their whereabouts.<\/p>\n