Media Wars: Florian Plettenberg and Fabrizio Romano go toe-to-toe over accusations of ‘fake news

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Man…this guy Vince (a well-known Chelsea fan news source) might have had no idea what he cooked up with a simple quote tweet.

Inadvertently or maybe ( deviously ) on purpose, Vince kicked off a battle that spiraled out of control between transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano and Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg.

It was a rollback the clock night on X as the two, high-profile journos slugged it out…via keyboard, of course.

As you can see, Vince got the discussion started:

Despite Fabrizio's Here We Go? 🤔 https://t.co/DfFrbOcozJ

— Vince™ (@Blue_Footy) July 26, 2026

Romano did not wait long to fire off a response:

don’t worry, Diomande goes to Real Madrid as Klopp went to Germany. Ask about the fake news yesterday on Man City bidding €100m for Diomande when they’ve been out for days, and when Madrid were already advancing. They are good at talking about others (not even that good, they…

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 26, 2026

don’t worry, Diomande goes to Real Madrid as Klopp went to Germany. Ask about the fake news yesterday on Man City bidding €100m for Diomande when they’ve been out for days, and when Madrid were already advancing. They are good at talking about others (not even that good, they can’t even tag me 🤣) but… check your own news first, then talk about me. 🤗

Well, that lit Plettenberg’s fuse and he thumbed out a statement that was a complete take down of Romano:

Okay, wow. By accusing us of “fake news” with „Man City bidding“ (never reported) you’ve unfortunately crossed a line. I never wanted to bring this up, but your Klopp report was simply ridiculous and disrespectful to every journalist who actually does proper reporting. One day… pic.twitter.com/pf9D9W0NYQ

— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) July 26, 2026

Okay, wow. By accusing us of “fake news” with „Man City bidding“ (never reported) you’ve unfortunately crossed a line.

I never wanted to bring this up, but your Klopp report was simply ridiculous and disrespectful to every journalist who actually does proper reporting. One day after the DFB had already named him in its official statement, you posted a “here we go”. Posting a signing soon and it’s almost one week later. I honestly thought you’d have the decency not to do that.

Anyone could have posted that Klopp HWG because it was obvious he was going to become Germany’s head coach. Your report was based on probability, not on actual agreements.

As long as you keep deleting false „here we go’s“ and posting results minutes before the final whistle just because of algorithms and the need to be first in the race against 433 and score apps, only to delete them five minutes later because Neymar scores, you should probably keep a lower sound overall. The same applies when you fail to credit the original source in a large share of your Instagram posts.

Do your business. We’ll do ours. But accusing others of spreading lies is quite ironic coming from someone in your position. Good night.

Romano was not about to let Plettenberg get in the last word:

you start accusing, I cross the line. Now at least I see you’ve learned how to tag 😂 very good. Maybe I should share messages from few years ago where you asked me “how can I increase followers” or “your job is my motivation”… you who are now teaching how to do this job on…

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 26, 2026

you start accusing, I cross the line. Now at least I see you’ve learned how to tag 😂 very good. Maybe I should share messages from few years ago where you asked me “how can I increase followers” or “your job is my motivation”… you who are now teaching how to do this job on here. But I’m not going out of context, as you did.

I replied on the same topic, Diomande, sharing your tweet saying “Man City ready to bid”… you go on other topics. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Keep going, in that case better ask around Anfield about the number 10 shirt. And remember: who started this circus is you, with your post on Diomande to Madrid that it’s going (for sure) to happen. This is my last reply. Enjoy 🤗

If you thought the war was over, boy were you wrong. Now some rando got involved and brought the boys in — maybe not together, but at least working toward a truce of sorts…or at least an agreement to simmer down the heat in this rivalry:

Looks like there is war between you and @FabrizioRomano . He is reporting that the deal is done, you are reporting otherwise. Who can we believe?

— JaHomaBay (@HassanMcOjwang) July 26, 2026

Romano offered another response, but did try to spin that he was not looking for a battle:

I’m not into any war my friend. There were reports of Man City ready to bid €100m for Diomande literally yesterday (!) and Man City are completely out since 8 days ago. And they still talk about others. Let it go… but don’t involve me 😁 Diomande will go to Real Madrid. Here we…

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 26, 2026

I’m not into any war my friend. There were reports of Man City ready to bid €100m for Diomande literally yesterday (!) and Man City are completely out since 8 days ago. And they still talk about others. Let it go… but don’t involve me 😁 Diomande will go to Real Madrid. Here we go. Enjoy.

Sensing his opponent was fading from the scrap, Plettenberg, too, acknowledged he wanted the sparring to be ov...