In roughly 18 months, Riccardo Calafiori (£6.0m) has progressed from an uncapped Basel left-back to one of the continent’s most sought-after defenders.
Having guided Bologna to the Champions League and starred for Italy in Euro 2024, the 22-year-old jumped at the chance to join Arsenal, further strengthening last season’s meanest defence.
So can the £42m signing become the Gunners’ leading defender and what impact will he have in Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?
We’ll take a look during this Scout Report piece, including data and images from our Premium Members Area.
THE HISTORY
Born in 2002, he progressed through the youth teams of boyhood side Roma and was rated highly.
When the defender, aged 16, saw his career put in jeopardy because of a horrific UEFA Youth League knee ligament injury, instead it was simply the first of several setbacks he’d show great mental strength to recover from.
Out for almost a year, Calafiori recovered to make his senior debut in 2020. That day, he won a penalty and scored a disallowed goal during Roma’s 3-1 win at Juventus.
CAREER LEAGUE RECORD
| SEASON | CLUB | DIVISION | STARTS (SUB) | GOALS | ASSISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | Bologna | Serie A | 26 (4) | 2 | 5 |
| 2023/24 | Basel | Super League | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 |
| 2022/23 | Basel | Super League | 21 (2) | 0 | 1 |
| 2021/22 | Genoa (loan) | Serie A | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 |
| 2021/22 | Roma | Serie A | 2 (4) | 0 | 1 |
A quiet 2020/21 was disappointing but Jose Mourinho, shortly after arriving, then posted an encouraging Instagram video showing him analysing Calafiori on his computer.
By that October, he lost his opportunity by playing in a humiliating 6-1 thrashing away at Bodø/Glimt. Far from their only poor performance, he was nevertheless soon farmed out on loan to be a barely-used Genoa substitute.
So in the summer of 2022, Calafiori made a brave decision to move abroad to get regular game time. Swiss side Basel offered this and his career has blossomed since.
It’s featured a run to the Europa Conference League semi-finals, a move to Bologna in the final hours of August 2023 and then a fifth-placed Serie A finish that secured I Rossoblù some top-tier European football for the first time since 1964.
His 26 starts brought 12 clean sheets, as Thiago Motta’s side ended with the league’s third-best defence. Individually, Calafiori scored twice in the penultimate 3-3 draw with Juventus, where being taken off at 3-0 revealed a lot about his importance to that backline.
Such progress was noted by Italy’s head coach Luciano Spalletti and a first cap came just before June’s European Championship. Fast-tracked into the line-up, he played three of four Azzurri matches, being suspended versus former home Switzerland.
PLAYING STYLE
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