Arsenal sign defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a deal worth £42m; Italy international can play at centre-back or left-back; the 22-year-old only wanted to join Gunners despite interest from Real Madrid and Juve; Calafiori becomes Arsenal's second major summer signing
Monday 29 July 2024 20:06, UK
Arsenal have completed the signing of defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a deal worth £42m.
The 22-year-old, who can play at centre-back or left-back, has signed a five-year contract with the Gunners until 2029 and he further strengthens a defensive unit that conceded only 29 goals and kept 18 clean sheets in the Premier League.
Sky Sports News understands another Premier League club, as well as Juventus and Real Madrid, tried to sign the Italy international this month. There were bids from other clubs in the last two weeks, but Calafiori only wanted a move to Arsenal and gave his word he would join Mikel Arteta's side.
Arsenal were understood to be impressed by his desire to join the club - a desire that was strengthened in conversations with manager Arteta and sporting director Edu.
Speaking in a press huddle on Arsenal's pre-season tour of the USA, Calafiori said: "I spoke for almost two months with the coach and with Edu. They tried to convince me, but I was already really convinced to come here. For me, it is the best project I can have as a player.
"There were other clubs, but I don't care anymore, I'm here and I want to improve to win trophies… the team is young and strong and I like this.
"Now that I'm here, I know I have to go day-by-day, improving with the training squad. When I'm really fit, I'm excited to help the team, I hope.
"I have this good feeling. I cannot explain. But for sure, you'll see on the pitch that it was the right choice."
When asked if he had been told if he will play at left-back or centre-back, the Italian added: "We didn't speak a lot about the role, I just want to play and improve. It's about the team, which necessity we have. I can play in different positions, I don't care really, I just want to play."
Calafiori becomes Arsenal's second major summer signing after the £27m arrival of goalkeeper David Raya.
Calafiori's representative Alessandro Lucci, from World Soccer Agency, worked with both clubs over the past month to ensure a deal would get done.
Bologna bought Calafiori from Swiss club Basel last summer for €4m (£3.4m), with Basel making 50 per cent of Bologna's profit on the deal.
One of the most highly-rated defenders in Europe last season, Calafiori shone at Euro 2024 despite Italy's early exit in Germany, with his presence sorely missed through suspension in the then holders' last-16 exit to Switzerland.
Ahead of Arsenal's pre-season friendly against Liverpool in Philadelphia, Arteta said of his new signing Calafiori: "I'm very happy. It took a while, he's a player we monitored for over a year. We were really short in the back line last year in terms of numbers and we demanded so much from them.
"William Saliba, for example, played in every minute of the Premier League and we believe we had to be more protected.
"We identified him as a talent that can give us skill and qualities that are going to make us better. We are signing a player with huge capacity still to develop.
"When I spoke to him one or two times and I knew the other things [teams being interested], I wasn't really sure if we could do it or not.
"But he was adamant: 'let me know when you're ready, my bags are ready and I just want to come to Arsenal'. Those were his words and when you have that feeling, someone that has that willingness to join us and make us better and that determination, it's really powerful and as a club, we should be really proud of that.
"He's in a really good place. His English is really good, he already understands what we want because I explained it to him and he's so excited. Let's go day-by-day."
Will he be a left-back or centre-back? "Both positions with the way we want to play and the things we want to evolve in our game, he is going to fit really into what we want.
"It increases the quality and the competition and it's very good for the team."
The question now is where Calafiori will fit in at Arsenal. It will prove difficult to dislodge Arsenal's first-choice centre-back pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, who have featured together 79 times over the past two campaigns.
Arsenal also had the meanest defence in the Premier League last season, only conceding 29 goals. Yet while Ben White, Gabriel and Saliba were mainstays of the backline, the left-back berth is an area for summer surgery.
None of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu claimed the role consistently last season, while Jurrien Timber, who started the previous campaign in that role, is only just back from a serious knee injury.
So is left-back Calafiori's best bet for an immediate Arsenal spot, should the move arise?
Arsenal set a club record for goals scored in the Premier League last season with 91. But it was defensively that they really excelled. The Gunners only conceded 29 times, five fewer than Manchester City. No side got close to their tally of 18 clean sheets.
Their outstanding defensive efforts were a culmination of a deliberate strategy by Mikel Arteta to build this Arsenal side from back to front. Strengthening their foundations has been a priority and it continues with their deal for Calafiori.
With him included, 18 of Arsenal's 24 first-team signings under Arteta have been either goalkeepers, defenders or defensive midfielders, for fees totalling £488m. It is more than twice as much as they have spent on only six attacking midfielders or forwards.
In a deal worth up to £42m, Calafiori will become the sixth-most expensive signing since Arteta's appointment, ensuring that, of the top seven, five are defensive players, led by the £105m Declan Rice, while only two, in Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, are attackers.
Arteta has acknowledged that title wins are built on defences and continues to construct his squad accordingly.
In addition to Calafiori, David Raya has completed a permanent move but attacking additions cannot be ruled out if Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe move on as expected.
The 2024 summer transfer window officially closes on August 30 at 11pm UK time in the Premier League and 11.30pm in Scotland.
The Premier League has brought forward Deadline Day to link up with the other major leagues in Europe. The closing dates were set following discussions with the leagues in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.
