Football transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, has revealed that his famous ‘Here we go’ catchphrase was never part of a branding strategy but developed by accident while covering a lengthy Manchester United transfer nearly a decade ago.
Speaking during Trevor Noah’s World Cup Watch Party on Friday, Romano said the phrase first appeared after weeks of reporting on a transfer saga that eventually came to an end.
‘It was never planned’
Romano said he never intended to create a signature phrase for his transfer updates.
“Many people think maybe I had a plan for that, like, ‘Let’s find a catchphrase to make sure people remember my news.’ But that was not the case,” he said.
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The Italian journalist explained that he had been posting repeated updates on the same Manchester United transfer before finally announcing that the deal had been completed.
“I was just tweeting and tweeting on the same story. I don’t even remember the story. It was like eight or nine years ago. I remember it was a very long transfer, but I don’t even remember which one. Then one day it was over, finally done, and I said, ‘OK, here we go.’ Like, finally, the story is over.”
Fans embraced the phrase
Romano said football fans quickly adopted the expression and began asking him to use it whenever their clubs completed signings.
“I saw that people started reacting, saying, ‘Can you say “Here we go” also for Arsenal, for Manchester United, for Barcelona?’ I said, ‘OK, why not? Let’s do that.'”
He added that the phrase gradually became his way of confirming that a transfer had been fully agreed rather than simply being close to completion.
“I saw the excitement, and maybe people needed that. Before the ‘Here we go,’ you were reading stories or watching TV saying your team was buying a player. But when it’s done, when I can make sure that he’s actually coming, I thought it was a good way to make sure people understand when the deal is really fixed and done.”
A recognised transfer trademark
Over the years, Romano’s “Here we go” has become one of football’s most recognisable transfer confirmations, widely associated with completed deals involving clubs and players around the world.
