Arsenal signing Calafiori - all you need to know

When Bologna announced the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori from FC Basel late last August, just a couple of hours before the end of the summer market window, very few guessed how successful a move it would be.

Following the arrival of Jose Mourinho at Roma in 2021, Calafiori's home city and the club where he grew up, opportunities and playing time were rare for the defender.

That encouraged him to accept a permanent transfer to Swiss giants Basel in the summer of 2022.

Despite being a regular presence in Italy youth teams, Calafiori was beginning to slide off the European football radar before Bologna technical director Giovanni Sartori made his move.

Fast forward 11 months and Calafiori’s first full Serie A season ended with Champions League qualification, before he proved to be Italy’s best outfield player at Euro 2024 and his market value increased by 12 times.

Not many players around Europe can claim such a rise within such a short period - and it has earned the 22-year-old a move to Arsenal for a fee of up to £42m including add-ons.

Who is Riccardo Calafiori?

Calafiori has always been considered a talented player.

When Roma sold him for 2.5m euros to Basel two years ago, they included a 40% sell-on clause in his contract.

A 50% sell-on clause was also included by the Swiss when he moved to Bologna for 4m euros a year later.

Having overcome a nasty knee ligament injury when he was 16, missing almost a year, Calafiori is physically solid and stands at 188cm tall.

He is a powerful player who takes advantage of his long strides in covering the pitch but is also elegant and technically gifted.

Strong in the air and in one-on-one situations, he turns into an added midfielder in ball possession, advancing a few metres into the pitch and helping build up the game.

He sees empty spaces in front of him and knows how to enter them, as his five assists last season prove.

Equipped with a gifted left foot, which allows him to shoot long as well as short-range passes, at Bologna he often crossed the pitch looking for the right-winger or simply slotted into midfield to outnumber the opponents.

Calafiori is a versatile player who grew up as a left full-back.

Former Bologna boss Thiago Motta immediately put him in a more central position where he could take advantage of his good timing, intercept balls, anticipate opponents and start building up from the back.

“Since the very first day at Bologna, Thiago Motta told me he would exploit my full potential as a centre-back,” Calafiori said last May during an interview.

What will Calafiori bring?

Bologna ended the season with just six defeats and the third best Serie A defence - behind Inter and Juventus - and much of the credit goes to Calafiori.

The Italian will now have to find his way into an Arsenal defence that was the most impenetrable of the last Premier League campaign, with only 29 goals conceded.

Compared to William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White, Calafiori has a different profile.

His game works along vertical lines but also develops horizontally while waiting for the right slot to open. He will offer the Gunners yet another reliable option when building from the back.

He can play on the left or as a left centre-back in a four-man defence as well as in a three-man backline as he did at Euro 2024.

Calafiori has only had one season at the highest level, making 26 top-flight starts for the Rossoblu as they finished fifth last term.

Nevertheless, that was enough to convince Italy boss Luciano Spalletti to make him a regular starter for the Azzurri in Germany, where he lived up to the expectations and attracted attention from several big European clubs.

With the help of Motta, Calafiori seamlessly mastered the step from Basel to Bologna. Mikel Arteta will have to help him do the same if he wants to get the best out of him in London.

It is a big step and the Italian may need time to adapt. Premier League football is much faster than Serie A, players have less time to make decisions and play an enormous number of physically demanding games.

However, Calafiori brings what it takes to succeed: good individual technical skills, football intelligence, physical strength, tactical knowledge and humility.

He will benefit from the style of play of his new side - fluid like Bologna’s.

On a more superficial level, his image at the Euros was very much similar to that of many illustrious Azzurri predecessors like Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta, and this did not go unnoticed by those who love aesthetics.

And if Calafiori's career develops in line with those predecessors, the Gunners faithful can sleep soundly for the next few years.