Winners and losers of Riccardo Calafiori's transfer to Arsenal

Suraj Radia

• Updated: 29 Jul 2024 12:33 CDT
• 5 min read

Arsenal have signed Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori in a blockbuster €45 million deal for one of Euro 2024’s standout stars.

Calafiori established himself as one of the finest defenders in Serie A last season and the 22-year-old continued his fine form in Germany before Italy were eventually knocked out in the round-of-16.

Despite initial interest from the likes of Chelsea and Juventus, Arsenal won the race for Calafiori, marking the Gunners’ first proper new arrival of the summer.

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Arsenal will hope the signing of Calafiori will be a catalyst for them to finally win the Premier League title after two seasons of falling short, but the transfer could prove polarising for many parties.

FootballTransfers looks at the winners and losers of Calafiori’s move to the Emirates Stadium.

Winner – Mikel Arteta

There will perhaps not be anyone happier with Calafiori’s signing than Mikel Arteta, with the Arsenal boss hoping he finally has his long-awaited elite addition to the left side of his defence.

Arteta has spent big on the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Nuno Tavares to try and find the perfect compliment to his system, which utilises a player that can play as a centre-back or a full-back, similar to Ben White on the right.

Calafiori’s signing also represents a win for Arteta in demonstrating his power at Arsenal, with the club initially hesitant to finance such a big deal, however the Spaniard’s determination to get a deal done has ultimately prevailed.

Loser – Oleksandr Zinchenko

Part of the concern over Calafiori’s signing at Arsenal was the presence of left-sided players such as Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko, with at least one now likely to be sold this summer.

Kiwior will perhaps be the least troubled of the pair, having ousted Zinchenko from Arteta’s team at the back end of last season, and the Polish defender will have his pick from a number of top Serie A sides if he were to leave Arsenal.

Zinchenko, however, played just six of Arsenal’s final 15 Premier League games and the 27-year-old may find himself with even less minutes upon Calafiori’s arrival.

Winner – FC Basel

It is strange to think that one of the biggest beneficiaries of Calafiori’s transfer will be a team that is not even directly involved in the deal, however the Italian’s former side have certainly come out on top.

Having signed Calafiori from Roma for €2.6m in 2022, Basel sold the defender a year later for €4m, however, crucially, they inserted a clause entitling them to 50% of any future profit.

Considering the Swiss side’s biggest sale was Breel Embolo to Schalke for €26.5m in 2016, the €25m received for Calafiori, along with the €4m fee paid last summer, would mark a record amount for a player who made just 26 league appearances for the club.

Loser – Bologna

Unfortunately for Bologna, while they would still be happy with their profit in just one year, they may be regretting the clause given that they have lost one of the best defenders in the league for a fraction of his worth.

The Italian outfit insisted on an inflated €45m fee due to the sell-on clause and the fact that Arsenal were willing to meet the price shows the calibre of player they will be losing.

Considering they have already lost their manager to Juventus and their top scorer in Joshua Zirkzee to Manchester United, Bologna may face a struggle trying to replicate their fifth-place finish next season.

Winner – Nuno Tavares

Nuno Tavares is a player who has not had an obvious future at Arsenal, having been loaned out for the last two seasons, and the 24-year-old has now joined Lazio on a loan which will become permanent next summer.

Tavares had hoped to leave Arsenal before but he had initially been priced out of a move by the Gunners, however their need to sell and clear out their defensive log-jam meant that the left-back’s departure was accelerated to pave way for Calafiori.

Loser – Serie A

“It’s a disaster when strong, young players like him [Calafiori] leave our league. €45 million as a valuation is a huge sum but defenders are paid even more these days.”

Those were the words of Walter Sabatani, the general manager of relgated Serie A side Salernitana, who believes the league will be worse off without Calafiori.

Certainly seeing a young Italian star move abroad to the Premier League is quite uncommon and a player like Calafiori may represent a new era of domestic players pursuing the money in England and ditching Serie A in the process.