- 6 hours ago
Arsenal's Calafiori gamble BACKFIRES as Arteta repeats Chelsea mistake
Tom Weber
- Updated: 21 Mar 2025 08:46 GMT
- 4 min read
Analysis
Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori has once again suffered a knee injury, prompting questions about Mikel Arteta's decision to sign him last summer.
The Gunners defender went down on international duty on Thursday evening with a knee problem that has been described as 'strange.' Calafiori appeared to slip during Italy's 2-1 loss and landed awkwardly on his knee.
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STATS
Riccardo Calafiori
D (CL)
Arsenal
Riccardo Calafiori
D (CL)
Arsenal
The 22-year-old had to be taken off, although the exact extent of his injury remains unclear. Azzurri boss Luciano Spalletti told the media after the game: “He said that his knee feels strange, but cannot answer more precisely than that, so we’ll have to see."
Calafiori was seen limping out of the San Siro in Milan and simply responded with "I don't know" when asked about the gravity of his injury. It remains to be seen if the versatile defender will be sidelined for a prolonged period of time.
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Arsenal's Calafiori gamble
This new issue is not Calafiori's first knee problem this season nor indeed in his career. On the contrary, his calling as a professional footballer was previously threatened by a freak knee injury he suffered in 2018 during his time in Roma's youth system.
Persistent injuries have continued to plague the Italian ever since and it was one of the biggest concerns when it became clear that Arsenal were trying to sign him last summer.
It is, of course, easy to say in hindsight that Mikel Arteta took a massive gamble on Calafiori, but the risk of this transfer was already apparent at the time of the move.
Arteta, rather than then-sporting director Edu, was pushing for the signing of Calafiori despite the evident concerns over his physical condition. He managed to stay relatively injury-free last season at Bologna, so the Gunners boss clearly felt that he had overcome the worst.
However, this is now already Calafiori's third knee issue since joining Arsenal, which illustrates that Arteta's gamble has not paid off. The Italian has missed more than a month of action so far this season just because of knee injuries, not to mention the muscle problems he has had to deal with as well.
When fit and firing, Calafiori is a brilliant player, but Arsenal's decision to sign him despite the obvious red flags is reminiscent of Chelsea splashing €80 million on Wesley Fofana.
Fofana, too, had a history of serious knee problems and Chelsea were accused of not doing their due diligence when they signed the Frenchman. At €45m, Calafiori was not quite as pricey, but his injury-proneness is nevertheless increasingly worrying.
