Source Analysis - Florian Plettenberg

Verdict - Tier 3 Germany, Tier 4 overall

Transfer Track Source Analysis · August 4, 2024

Florian Plettenberg is a Sky Sports Germany journalist primarily covering news relating to FC Bayern Munich and the Bundesliga as a whole. In addition to his role covering transfer news as part of Sky Sports Germany’s live shows, Plettenberg has also been reporting on transfer news and rumors through his Twitter account @Plettigoal since 2014. He has over 360,000 followers on Twitter alone, and hundreds of thousands more on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Plettenberg has broken some major transfer stories over the past few years, although these often come with corroborating evidence from other higher-tier sources. He covered the intricacies of Bayern Munich’s bid for Tottenham Hotspur superstar Harry Kane last summer, as well as their moves for the electric Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise, and veteran defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha this summer.

Plettenberg, however, has also made many, many mistakes when it comes to reporting on German transfer news. Last year, he claimed that Manchester City’s veteran right-back Kyle Walker had reached a total verbal agreement with FC Bayern for a 2+1 year contract, and that they were nearing a complete agreement with Manchester City. Such a move, however, never actually occurred, and Kyle Walker played an important role in helping Manchester City become the first team to win four consecutive English top-flight titles.

Another instance from last window’s transfer window is his reporting that Ronald Araujo was Bayern’s “top transfer target” for the winter transfer window. However, no bid was every officially made by Bayern Munich, and Barcelona and club-associated sources both made it clear that Araujo was not for sale under any condition. This is yet another example of a journalist trying to bait clicks and engagement by posting outrageous-sounding headlines, a trait shared by many less-than-reliable transfer news sources.

Not only does Florian Plettenberg have a less-than-stellar record concerning transfer news, there have also been accusations that Plettenberg is just a mouthpiece for FC Bayern, manipulating his transfer reporting to only show their side of the story.

For example, when he was reporting on Radu Dragusin’s transfer saga last winter, as deadline day approached, Plettenberg stated that Bayern Munich had already reached an agreement with the player, and that they were absolutely confident that they could successfully hijack the arranged transfer to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. It was only twelve hours later that Tottenham’s official Twitter account confirmed their acquisition of the young Romanian center-back, and Plettenberg immediately backtracked on his earlier statements.

There have also been rumors that Plettenberg was more closely connected with the previous chief executive of Bayern Munich Oliver Kahn, and after his sacking in 2023, has lost many of his closer connections with the higher-ups within the club. These rumors, however, are entirely unsubstantiated by any actual evidence, and thus should be taken with a big grain of salt.

We rate Florian Plettenberg a Tier 3 source for Bayern Munich and German clubs, and a Tier 4 outside, owing to his accuracy with bigger German transfer stories with outside confirmation, but his lack of accuracy when it comes to exclusive stories, as well as certain accusations that he could simply be a mouthpiece for the German club.