Made of stern stuff: How Arsenal's £42m new signing battled back from a career-threatening injury to shine
Read my in-depth focus on Riccardo Calafiori as the talented 22-year-old signs for The Arsenal in deal worth up to £42m
Arsenal have signed their first player of the summer.
Italy international Riccardo Calafiori has joined the Gunners from Serie A side Bologna on a five year deal worth up to £42m with add ons.
The highly-rated 22-year-old with an excellent technique and highly attuned positional awareness, played 30 times for Bologna last term, scoring two goals and providing five assists as they finished fifth to seal a Champions League spot.
The versatile defender has immediately joined up with his new team-mates in Philadelphia ahead of the Gunners pre-season clash against Liverpool in the final match of their US tour.
"I'm really happy to be here," said Calafiori, who has represented his national team at every age group, adding: "I waited a lot.
"I hope we are going to do something great this season."
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Riccardo Calafiori signs for The Arsenal. Picture courtesy of Arsenal FC
Calafiori’s rise to the top
The player is the perfect defensive signing for Arteta. Technically proficient, no other centre-back in Europe’s top five leagues produced more assists than Calafiori did during 2023-24.
Calafiori started his career in the youth academy at Roma as a left-back, where he spent 12 years graduating into the first-team. His rise included an important loan spell at fellow Italian side Genoa during the 2021-22 campaign, where he made 17 appearances.
During his time with Roma under Jose Mourinho, he played five times in the Europa League during 2020-21, featuring three times during their successful Conference League campaign the following season.
“I’m grateful to Totti. Now to [ex-Bologna boss] Thiago Motta, with him, I learned many other aspects of football that I didn’t know about. I’ll also tell you something: [Jose] Mourinho and I talk. He wrote me several messages, there’s a nice relationship between us,” admitted a humble Calafiori.
He would later play with former Gunners Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ainsley Maitland-Niles during his time at the Stadio Olimpico.
As a promising left-sided centre-back Calafiori then left Roma permanently when they didn’t want to gamble on his form and fitness, by signing an £8m deal with Swiss team Basel. Caretaker boss Heiko Vogel saw him in the middle of the backline too, moving him from left-back into a centre-back role - with Basel losing only two of their next 13 games.
Such was his level of performance, he only spent a single season plying his trade at St Jakob-Park in the Swiss Super League, featuring 34 times during his time there, helping them reach the semi-finals of the Conference League.
That was prior to Bologna spotting his talent and potential, snapping him up in a £24m deal.
Calafiori, who has been on Arsenal sporting director Edu’s radar since before his precocious performances in Switzerland, shone still further on his return to Italy.
Calafiori pedigree
The Rome-born defender helped ‘I Rossoblu’ to an impressive fifth spot, to seal qualification for the top table of European football for the first time in six long decades for the unheralded side from the Emilia-Romagna region - who will compete in European football for the first time in 20 years.
And while the Azzurri had a miserable Euro 2024 - certainly compared to lifting the title at Wembley back in 2021 when beating England on penalties - Calafiori shone in an average side, coming into the tournament on the back of landing the Serie A Player of the Month for May, to earn all five of his Italy caps this summer.
Calafiori’s exploits this summer in an underwhelming Italy side were encapsulated by his role in their late, late equaliser against Croatia in Leipzig.
With qualification for the second round in jeopardy until Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th minute leveller cancelled out Luca Madrid’s 55th minute strike, it was Calafiori’s stepping out from the back, prior to embarking on a driving run, via a one-two, before providing the assist for the Lazio winger’s superb strike, in one of the few highlights for Luciano Spalletti’s underwhelming team.
It was no coincidence that Italy exited at the hands of Switzerland in the Round of !6, for the influential Calafiori was suspended.
Edu hails Riccardo
Sporting Director Edu said: “It has been a great team effort in completing this transfer and we welcome Riccardo to the family.
“We identified Riccardo as part of our strategy to sign players who fit our profile and will reinforce our squad to compete at the highest level. He is 22 but brings quality and experience. He will quickly grow into being an Arsenal player.
“Riccardo has consistently shown his quality for his club and country. He was one of the best players in Serie A last season, and gave strong performances for Italy in the Euros this summer. Mikel and our coaches are excited to start working with Riccardo, and we all look forward to seeing him in our shirt.”
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Calafiori’s place in the backline
With the Gunners suffering last season through debilitating injuries to the backline, starting on the opening day, with the huge blow in losing Jurrien Timber to an ACL during 2023-24 campaign opener against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates last August, Arteta has been keen for some time to bolster his backline.
Given the fact that Kieran Tierney was loaned out last term to Real Sociedad - with the expected attendant injuries to follow, which they did - and with Takehiro Tomiyasu plagued by a succession of niggling injuries culminating in missing the Gunners pre-season tour here in the US, no wonder the Arsenal hierarchy were keen to land Calafiori.
Not least because of the Japanese defender’s unfortunate propensity to pick up niggles that have seen him make only 83 appearances across all competitions since signing three years ago, ironically from Calafiori’s former alma mata Bologna.
The fact that the Japan star has never made more than 22 Premier League appearances in a single season has been a worry for Arteta. Seasoned observers also note that Tomiyasu has missed extended runs of games four different times during his stop-start Gunners career.
If he makes the starting XI, the versatile Calafiori is expected to start on the left - as opposed to his preferred position of left-sided centre-back. (The player can also play on the left side of midfield if required, although that’s certainly not where Arteta envisages his career panning out in North London.)
Coupled with the heartening return of the now fit-again Timber on the right - the former Ajax defender certainly looked lively during the two appearances I saw of him here in the States, against Bournemouth at LA Galaxy, and the more storied clash against Manchester United at the space age SoFi Stadium at the weekend - Arsenal fans can be excited about the club’s backline.
Not least with genuine competition - and genuine defensive squad depth - for places alongside the rock-solid pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel as the two first choice centre-backs, and the equally versatile Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko filling in anywhere across the line. And that’s without mentioning Jakub Kiwior.
(Although it is understood the club had considering making the Polish defender a makeweight in any cash plus player deal. That was until the hierarchy were assured that Emile Smith Rowe’s forthcoming sale would bring in a minimum of £35m. Balancing books is not sexy, but it is vitally important in these fiscally austere days.)
If you throw in the emergence of academy youngsters Ayden Heaven and Josh Nicolls, whose mature appearances have been greeted with satisfaction around the club - ahead of the Liverpool clash in Philadelphia later this week, Arteta can certainly be very pleased with how the opening stages to pre-season have gone so far.
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Thiago Motta and Mikel Arteta: Barcelona ‘B’ Class of 1982
It was no confidence that Calafiori excelled under canny boss Thiago Motta at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara last term in a side that kept 15 clean sheets.
Arteta and Motta (who has now become Juventus manager) have history, with both leaders featuring for Barcelona B as callow youths way back in 1982.
Arsenal beating off Motta’s Juve in pursuit of Calafiori was all the proof Arteta needed that Calafiori’s horrific injury early in his career would not be an issue.
Caliafiori: A tough character
The talented Italy defender is certainly made of stern stuff.
Six years ago, when playing for Roma in the UEFA Youth League against Viktoria Plzen, a 16-year-old Calafiori suffered an horrific injury where he tore every ligament in his left knee, as well as the meniscus and the articular capsule, putting his very future as a professional footballer in doubt.
Roma lost confidence in the player, who considered quitting football after trips to experienced Italian orthopaedists, who wrote off the chances of a full comeback.
However, Calafiori's agent at the time, the late Mino Raiola persuaded his young charge to consider flying to the United States for career-saving surgery, under Dr Freddie Fu, the same specialist who had operated on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The op was a success. During Euro 2024, Italy international Caliafiori credited Dr Fu for saving his career, insisting the surgeon was 'fundamental' to his recovery.
When asked his greatest achievement was so far, humble Riccardo said: “Being able to buy my parents a house.
“We lived in a rental, but when I played for Roma I managed to buy a beautiful house for them. Seeing them calm, safe and happy is priceless."
The player will wear the number 33 shirt and has travelled to the US to join up with his new teammates in Philadelphia, as the Gunners gear up to play Liverpool on Wednesday in the final match of their successful US summer tour.
The player will become only the fourth Italian to feature for Arsenal, following Arturo Lupoli, Vito Mannone and current international teammate Jorginho.
The Gunners added in a statement: "Everyone at Arsenal welcomes Riccardo to the club."
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