Arsenal agree deal with Bologna for Calafiori
Arsenal have reached an agreement in principle with Bologna for the signing of Riccardo Calafiori.
However, Calafiori still has to take a medical before officially signing a long-term contract with the Gunners.
The deal for the defender, who can play at centre-back or left-back, is worth in the region of £42m (€50m).
The Italy international defender could join up with the Arsenal squad at some point on their pre-season tour of the USA if the transfer is completed in time.
Sky Sports News has been told another Premier League club, as well as Juventus and Real Madrid tried to sign the player in the last 10 days.
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But Calafiori only wanted a move to Arsenal and gave his word he would join the Gunners. His representative Alessandro Lucci, from World Soccer Agency, has worked with both clubs over the past month to ensure a deal would get done.
Bologna bought him from Swiss club Basel last summer for €4m (£3.4m), with Basel standing to make 50 per cent of Bologna’s profit on any deal.
Where will Calafiori fit in at Arsenal?
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The question 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?
Arteta continues to bolster his defence
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.
At £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.
When does the summer transfer window open and close?
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.