Some people were surprised when Arsenal decided to pay £42 million to sign Italian back Riccardo Calafiori.

As it turns out, this player only went back to Italy last summer. He had to move to Switzerland to start his career with Basel.

 

Some people will also say that Calafiori’s play in the recent Euros was the main reason why Arsenal finally made the deal.

But what neither group seems to know is that Calafiori has been highly rated in the Italian game for a long time. In fact, he was almost thought to be the future captain of his hometown club Roma, but for an injury that almost ended his career as a young player.

In fact, Calafiori fully emerged as one of the best young defensive prospects in the game last season. He did this by making the most of his early chances to play for Bologna, who went on to qualify for the Champions League.

These performances, along with those he had with Italy over the summer, were what made Arsenal and their coach, the notoriously detail-oriented Mikel Arteta, decide that Calafiori was the right defensive option for their team.

 

Calafiori is one of the best defenders in the game right now, both in terms of his position and the different jobs he can fill.

And Arteta already has strong defenders like Ben White and Jurrien Timber, who missed the whole first season with the club because of an illness. With Calafiori, they have even more options in the back line.

In fact, Arsenal is very likely to try to use Calafiori as a left back at first.

Here are some of Calafiori’s best qualities so that you can better understand why Arsenal wants to sign him.

Taking the ball

Around the end of the Serie A season before this one, Calafiori did an interview where he was asked which players he looked up to.

The interviewer may have thought that Calafiori would name one of the best Italian defenders of all time.

 

It could be Paolo Maldini or Giorgio Chiellini. Calafiori instead mentioned the English player John Stones.

And Calafiori went into more detail, saying that he liked how Stones stepped into middle and knew that this was because of coaching instructions.

If you watched the Italian national team play in the Euros, you may have seen Calafiori make this kind of run as he drove forward with the ball late in the game against Croatia and set up the extra goal.

 

The Italian defender’s ability to move into the middle of the field from either centre back or left back is very important for both Calafiori and Arteta.

In the beginning of his career, Calafiori either played left back or as a centre defender on the left side of a back three.

Last season, Thiago Motta was his teacher at Bologna. He persuaded Calafiori that he was good enough to play in a back four.

 

Next season, we expect the Italian to play left back for Arsenal, at least at first. However, I think he will play the position backwards, going more into the middle of the pitch when Arsenal has the ball.

In these cases, the Italian defender is good at receiving, playing, and breaking lines with his passing.

For Arteta, though, it’s probably more important that Calafiori is very strong during defensive transitions when the other team tries to quickly counterattack when he moves into middle.

Calafiori will mean a lot to this Arsenal team because he can break through the defence and run the ball.

Being able to pass

Calafiori is a modern defender who can pass the ball through the lines and drive out when he has the ball. He is also comfortable driving out and breaking lines with runs and dribbles when he has the ball.

While Arteta has usually used Ben White in this spot on the right side, there is no question that Calafiori is a better passer than White.

When moving from the front third to the middle third, Arsenal almost became too functional at times last season. They didn’t have any real flair.

 

It will be easier for Arteta to move the ball from the front line to the back four with Calafiori on the team than it was with Arteta last season.

Additionally, when Calafiori has the ball and is going forward, he won’t just play to the next line with a safe passing style that lets the ball go to the next available player.

He can do more than that; he can play longer switches of play or driven passes that break the last line and let players in behind get free.

That being said, it goes without saying that this way of throwing the ball will make his pass completion rate less impressive because more of his throws are riskier.

There is a risk/reward that coaches have to think about when they have a defence unit with a more aggressive and forward passer.

 

Having a player like Calafiori on the defence who is good at moving the ball will give Arteta and his coaches more choices in how to set up the attack.

Keeping 1v1 safe

Even though Calafiori is a very modern defender, he is still first and foremost a defender, and an Italian defender at that.

At 6’2″, he is big enough to defend against Premier League players, but it’s how he positions himself and reads the game when he’s defending that really stands out.

 

His comfort level is the same whether he is asked to protect in space as the more reactive defender or close to the attacking players of the other team as the more proactive defender.

 

Due to this, he is expected to start at left back, but he is already good enough to play as Arteta’s central defender.

In fact, his skills would make him a great partner for William Saliba as RCB.

When he’s playing defence, Calafiori is quick and aggressive when he goes up against an opponent’s scorer.

He usually starts off in a great position, which gives him an edge when hitting the areas where passes or crosses are played into.

 

In this way, the Italian is similar to how Arsenal players like Saliba and Gabriel defend right now. Arteta likes defence players who can defend both in tight spaces and open spaces.

There’s no question that adding Calafiori to the defence will be better than what Arteta had last season at left back.

He may also be one of the best centre backs for the team from a defending point of view.

In conclusion

Some people might think that Arsenal only got Calafiori because of how well he played at the Euros, but the truth is that he has been a good defender for a lot longer than that.