€47m bid rejected according to x formerly known as twitter. Seems to be the most solid link of the summer. What do we think? CB or LB?

    I've watched this movie before. We chase an Italian talent and Juve get him for half the money we were offering!

    Seems to fit the profile. Zinchenko must be close to a move.

    Plus Chelsea are lurking.

    Execellent player. I’m guessing he’d be to add depth to both the LB and LCB positions but to push for a starting berth.

    Kiwior would most likely depart

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      He looks great. Surely we're moving on Kiwior and/or Zinchenko if this is true.

      Still have a tough time believing a top Italian talent, especially a defensive one, is going to leave Italy but this one does seem to be gathering pace. Calafiori as a marauding inverting left back would be a pretty great response to what City did with Gvardiol last year. I hope we don't commit too much and scuttle our chances at addressing real needs at the 8 and on the wing though.

        Would we really be getting rid of BOTH Zinchenko and Kiwior? That seems a bit too many departures.. Plus, who would be be starting in front of? Surely not Gabriel/Saliba, and i thought we had Timber penciled in as our starting LB for next season. Unless they think he will start ahead of Timber? Its great to have depth, but 50 million seems like an awful lot for 'depth'.

        As ridiculous as it sounds, 50 million for depth is how you compete with City over a 38 game season. Just look at how they have retooled each season - they almost always bring in a new defender and they're never cheap. To me, we have several tiers of defenders in our squad and thankfully they are all of a high enough caliber to have these debates/discussions.

        We have one world class defender who has the potential to be the best in his position in the world and that is William Saliba. We have two defenders that are at the very least top 3 defenders in their positions in the EPL in Ben White and Gabriel. We also have versatile defenders who are top 4 quality starters in Tomiyasu and likely Timber. Kiwior and Zinchenko are also useful pieces, especially Kiwior given his versatility.

        if you can upgrade one of Kiwior and Zinchenko and bring in a defender in one of those higher tiers, that's how you continue to improve the overall squad quality and quality of depth we have. Personally, I feel like if we brought in Calafiori, he would start at LB and we would have a White - Saliba - Gabriel - Calafiori backline which would be the best in the league IMO. Add to that that you would also have Timber and Tomiyasu as rotation across almost all 4 positions with their versatility and you've got a group of 6 defenders that could make an argument they could start at just about any team in the league. With over 60 games at the least next year, at least 5 of those defenders would get big minutes and we could avoid running them as far into the red as we did this year (Saliba leading the league in minutes and White having to play the entire second half of the season on a hurt knee). I love this move as long as we are also going to strengthen in the midfield and attack.

        lorddulaarsenal Agree, think he's a Kiwior replacement, particularly given the rumors of Italian interest in Kiwior. Calafiori seems like a better talent and a better fit for what Arteta wants our defenders to do. If we can sell Kiwior this transfer may only cost us £25-30m net.

          Ha! I saw a screenshot of his Patreon where he basically admits he has no idea what is happening so he's just guessing it's either a smokescreen or we are very confident in it. Clearly just conjecture from someone desperate to keep the subscribers paying for information anyone can hypothesize.

          Would be great to have a long-haired Italian defender in the side, just feels right. Football heritage. Like making sure you have a few Brazilians in your team.

            Ric Cali, mystery German superstar, Marque left winger - shaping up to be a delightful window