By Yetunde Deborah Akinsola
Mikel Arteta has previously made it clear that his players need to love defending; Riccardo Calafiori, an Arsenal target, already has this mentality.Calafiori, one of Euro 2024’s star defenders, drew the attention of many top Premier League clubs with his calm displays at the heart of Italy’s defense.
Arsenal, who appear to have learned from William Saliba’s unfortunate injury in 2022/23 that they require sufficient reinforcement for the position, are the front-runners to sign Calafiori.
The reason why the club is interested in signing the £42 million-rated centre-back is that he is the exact defensive blueprint Arteta seeks in his squad.
In an interview with Sky Sports in March, Arteta stated: “The key is that everyone goes 100 miles per hour for every ball.
Our forwards, wingers, and attacking midfielders prefer to defend. Installing that among the players is extremely crucial.”
The Italian’s passion and love for his profession precisely fits what Arteta expects from his players, so it appears there will be no need to instill that in Calafiori if he arrives.
According to reports, if he becomes Arsenal’s second acquisition of the summer, after Brentford keeper David Raya, he might signal the departure of another first-team defender.
Bologna have previously declared that they want to maintain their star, with technical director Giovanni Sartori telling Sky Sports Italia: “There is discussion of Juventus, but also of many other teams.
At this time, we shall endeavor to keep him. If important offers arrived, we would have to think about them.
The president has stated that he wants to keep the entire team, so I’m not saying we would sell him, but we will definitely conduct some assessments. I don’t think he’ll go to Juventus; he’ll probably leave in a different transfer window, but I’d like to attempt to keep him.
However, it has been stated that the defender is ‘obsessed’ with a move to Arsenal. The Italian wants to work for Arteta, a leader he admires, as part of the initiative Arsenal is now planning.
There will be no quarrels on the player’s side when it comes to a transfer, according to Fabrizio Romano. Only the intricacies of the fee are reported to remain, and so despite Bologna’s wish to keep hold of the defender, it seems he’s set to leave.
A mutual interest between defending-lover Calafiori and ‘top coach’ Arteta is clearly present. The player who fits Arsenal’s bill could be a Gunner soon, with the reported hope being that he can join them on their preseason tour of the USA.