Arsenal Full-Back Riccardo Calafiori

Arsenal signed Riccardo Calafiori from Serie A side Bologna after the defender impressed during Euro 2024. 

The 22-year-old signed for a fee of £38m, and has already established himself as a key part of Mikel Arteta‘s defence for the next few years, due to both his young age, and defensive ability.


The Italy international has made eight appearances for the national team, and he has become more and more regular for Italy.

The biggest drawback for Calafiori so far in his Arsenal career is that he has faced several injury issues which could become a concern for Arteta if it is a more regular problem.

Youth career at Roma before breaking out at Bologna

Riccardo Calafiori began his footballing career at Roma, after coming through the youth set-up at the Italian side. He signed his first professional contract in June 2018 at the age of just 16.

He then soon after suffered what could have been a career-ending injury to his knee in October 2018, meaning that he then didn’t play for almost two years, with his next game coming in August 2020, when he made his full debut for Roma, aged 18.

He did score in the match, however it was later disallowed which was a disappointment for Calafiori, who could have scored as a defender on his full debut for Roma, it would have been some arrival.

That season, Calafiori ended up making eight appearances, he did score one goal in the Europa league in a match against Swiss side Young Boys, who are in the Champions League this season.

In the following year, Calafiori made nine appearances for Roma, before joining fellow Serie A side Genoa on a six month-long loan. He ended up making just three appearances for them.

After what was a poor loan spell at Genoa, Calafiori was sold permanently by Roma, and joined Swiss side Basel for a fee of £8.6m. He found more success at Basel, making 38 appearances with the club in his one season.

Calafiori scored one goal and provided three assists, helping Basel to a fifth place finish in the Swiss Super League.

After an impressive season, Bologna became interested in signing the defender at the age of 21, he joined the Serie A side for a fee of £20.6m, a significant profit for Basel.

Under now-Juventus manager Thiago Motta, Calafiori switched to a centre-back position which helped him to show how versatile he can be. He became one of the top Italian defenders in the Serie A, which quickly caught the attention of Italy manager Luciano Spalletti, who called him up to his Euro 2024 squad.

In his season at Bologna, Calafiori made 33 appearances, scoring two goals and contributing five assists. He helped the Italian side to a fifth place finish in the league, and the promise of European football.

Calafiori’s move to Arsenal

Whilst Calafiori was recovering from the Euros, the defender will have seen an emergence of transfer reports linking him over a move to Arsenal, who were very impressed with him at Bologna.

After a long period of ‘will he won’t he’, the defender made the move to Arsenal and has already shown himself to be a quality Premier League-level player.

Calafiori didn’t take long to win over the Arsenal faithful, after he scored a wondergoal, during their first game against rivals Manchester City in the 2024/25 season at the Etihad, where he thundered the ball into the net from outside the box.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw, and felt like a title decider considering the previous two seasons. However, Manchester City then went on a spell of poor form, whilst Arsenal tried to keep pace with Liverpool.

Three things you didn’t know about Riccardo Calafiori

Calafiori has been compared in Italy, to one of the country’s best ever footballers. As the Italian fans have dubbed him as the next Maldini, due to their similarity in playstyle. Paolo Maldini won seven Serie A titles with AC Milan, and made it to a World Cup final in 1994; big shoes for Calafiori to fill.

The Italian defender has some pretty impressive contacts in the world of football. He revealed in an interview with Arsenal when he joined the club that Daniele De Rossi used to drive him to training when he suffered his injury at Roma.

He said: “When I was injured [De Rossi] took me home, waited for me, took me back to the training centre.”

Finally, Calafiori doesn’t style his play on any Italian legend, but actually a current England international. He styles his play on John Stones. He said in the same interview: “John Stones is my reference. His style of play is closest to mine. It’s not off the cuff when I go into midfield. It’s following the guidelines of the coach.”

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