Meet Gianluca Di Marzio, “the voice” of the transfer market in Italy

Journalist Gianluca Di Marzio is one of the best connoisseurs of the Italian market in the period of player transfers and one of the passions of those who follow football in the country.

“For us, negotiations and meetings between clubs and agents happen almost in daylight, in hotels a bit like a fair”, describes the man who for nearly 20 years has analyzed and deciphered transfers on television, Twitter or on his own website .

“I don’t see this desire to follow the market as a reality TV show in other countries”, he guarantees with a smile to AFP the 47-year-old journalist, who doesn’t let go of his cell phone.

The passion for the transfer window comes from his father, Gianni, who became sporting director in the 1990s (for Cosenza and Venezia) after having been coach of Napoli and Genoa. “When I was 15 or 16 years old, he took me to the hotels where the negotiations took place, my passion was born at that time with him”, he confesses.

From then onwards he managed to get in touch with football players who soon gave him good information as a journalist, becoming a reference in the coverage of this segment and first on local TV stations, before joining the Sky Sport.

Mourinho’s secret
Gianluca has become one of the “fifty most influential men and women” in world football, according to a list drawn up a few years ago by the ESPN.

“Am I a ‘mercato’ actor? Some see me that way, but not me. I don’t think journalists specializing in the segment have such an important influence on conversations, although of course the fact that information is revealed sooner or later can sometimes change the future of a transfer,” he said.

“Last summer I announced that Genoa were close to closing with French striker Thomas Henry and I know that this led to Venezia joining the fray [pela contratação] with a better offer to finally take the player. But Genoa should have closed before I found out,” recalls Di Marzio.

On the other hand, the professional congratulates Roma for having kept the arrival of Portuguese coach José Mourinho a secret. “General director Tiago Pinto told me that he didn’t even disclose the eventual arrival precisely to prevent the information from getting out. Sometimes, clubs must not only keep secrets from journalists, but also from their own employees”, explains Gianluca.

A book with Ibrahimovic
The influencer’s agenda is full of numbers of reliable informants and “alerts come from anywhere, including people who are not known and dream of seeing their information on television”, he says.
For the ‘mercato’ which opens on January 3 in Italy, no great activity is expected in a complicated economic context due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be “difficult”, for example, to transfer striker striker Dusan Vlahovic, sought by many clubs, but with a contract with Fiorentina until 2023.

“More likely” is that Juventus will sell Swedish midfielder Dejan Kulusevski to “finance the arrival of a striker,” predicts the man who has just published his first book, the sequel to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s autobiography.