According to the reports on the Internet, Arsenal have bid 40 Million Euros for the Italian defender, Riccardo Calafiori. The deal is in its final stages of completion and is on the verge of being signed. The move would see Mikel Arteta getting the standout star for Italy at the 2024 Euros for a just price in the summer transfer window. At face value, this might seem like an excellent signing and it will surely get the Arsenal fans happy, but there should be some caution with that excitement.
Riccardo Calafiori’s young career has been full of ups and downs, and he is only 22. Since the 18/19 season, the Italian defender has had 8 major injuries keeping him out for a month on average, while the first one occurred during a UEFA Youth League game and kept him out for 290 days. Apart from his Injury history, Calafiori has been shipped overseas before on loans for not being up to Mourinho’s standards. The Roma player was loaned out to Genoa 2 seasons back where he failed to impress and so was shipped to FC Basel before the start of the 22/23 season. It was at FC Basel where the former predominantly left-back started playing as a Centre-Back and became a totally new player. This transformative change of positions brought out the best in Riccardo Calafiori.
Calafiori caught the eye of the Bologna manager, Thiago Motta, and joined them the following season where he helped the Italian Club to their first-ever UCL Spot finish. Owing to his recent amazing performances he was picked for Italy where he quickly caught the eye of everyone watching the Euros and established himself as the best Italian player at the tournament. And that has brought us here. Now on the verge of signing for the North London club.
Not the man for the job
Calafiori’s best position is at Centre-back and there is no doubt about it. A player who loves to be on the ball all the time and is a master at breaking lines of pressure and entering the midfield with the ball at his feet. In that regard, he is very similar to John Stones. The problem at Arsenal is that he won’t be playing at Centre-Back often. Those two positions are locked in by Gabriel and Saliba. Though Calafiori and Saliba would complement each other well. Why fix something that ain’t broken in Gabriel and Saliba?
Even at Left-Back, there’s no guarantee that Riccardo Calafiori won’t be a guaranteed starter. He will have to face serious competition from Zinchenko, Timber, and Tomiyasu. 2 of whom are pure Left Backs, unlike the Italian. The only thing Calafiori at Left Back would have over his competition is maybe being better at 1v1’s and aerial advantage. Yet Calafiori isn’t the strongest in the air. There will be times when he will enter the midfield for Arsenal with Rice filling in for Left-Back, something the no.6 always does in an England shirt. But “Do Arsenal really need a Calafiori at left back?” is the real question.
And the answer is no. Arsenal should’ve waited for a few seasons and looked for opportunities in pure Left-Backs like Nuno Mendes, Alejandro Balde, Theo Hernandez, etc. Even Nico Schlotterbeck who has a profile similar to that of Riccardo Calafiori is a much bigger upgrade than the Italian.
With all that being said, Mikel Arteta has had a knack of making things work at Arsenal. So betting against him making good use of Calafiori’s talents is difficult. Will the Italian defender amount to anything memorable at Arsenal is a story for the future.
