Riccardo Calafiori: Page 4 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Riccardo Calafiori

HomeSteak

Don Pacifico

"Arsenal on the cusp of prevailing"

lorddulaarsenal

Getting close to agreeing a deal now

Don Pacifico

Close to agreeing that there will be talks on progressing to drafting a potential deal.

Burnwinter

A deal is becoming increasingly proximate, I'm hearing.

HomeSteak

[qn_carlino] Riccardo Calafiori: Bologna have told Calafiori that they will satisfy his wish of joining Arsenal but on their own terms. Bolonga are asking Basel to lower their terms in of sell on percentage. Arsenal offer stuck at €45m plus €5m. Bolonga rejected Kiwior as part of deal

Every day, we move another inch...

Don Pacifico

HomeSteak Riccardo Calafiori: Bologna have told Calafiori that they will satisfy his wish of joining Arsenal but on their own terms. Bolonga are asking Basel to lower their terms in of sell on percentage. Arsenal offer stuck at €45m plus €5m. Bolonga rejected Kiwior as part of deal

This is the type of thing that if true, makes me wonder whether the deal might fall through. Bologna aren't going to lower their asking price, Basel aren't going to change their sell-on % so either we pay up or we move on. And I'm fine with either option at this point (I actually think saying 'no' occasionally might help us in the long-run).

mdgoonah41

thank god for the growing expectation. i assume we'll finish this one with 35 minutes to go on deadline day

Panda

Arteta's obsession with the CB/FB hybrid shows no signs of slowing down.

Assume he will be our new LB if we get it done.

Burnwinter

Watched the Athletic's analysis of Calafiori the other day. He's been playing at LCB mostly for Bologna and pops up genuinely all over the pitch—he's been taking touches at right wing. He does klutzy, violent giraffe recovery tackles à la Havertz, as well as being fairly tidy on the ball. He's not regarded as quick, in fact I think he might not be fast enough to play CB for us against every opponent. But Calafiori–Gabriel–Saliba–White would probably upgrade the combined menace of our back four even further.

Mirth

I’m just confused as to where that leaves Timber and Tomiyasu

HomeSteak

Mirth remember how all the new contracts we gave out were long term, all bar Tomyiasu, I don't think the club trusts him(they are right, he is not capable of staying fit). He is next on the chopping block

Big Willie

Mirth I’m just confused as to where that leaves Timber and Tomiyasu

I'm more worried where that may leave Gabriel. If Arteta genuinely wanted to replace him last season and only kept him on because of the Timber and Partey injuries (can't say for sure but it sure seemed possible with the way we started lining up early that season), then he may very well be thinking to finish off the move he originally wanted.

goon

Leaves Tomi on the treatment bench I assume.

In all seriousness, I think having 5-6 'starters' in the squad for that defensive line is exactly what we need back there.

samthegooner

goon 100% this. Having a core group of 6 top class defenders is going to be very necessary as we go for trophies on multiple fronts. Add to that the fact that Tomi and Timber have been injured and this makes a ton of sense to bring in another potentially world class defender to strengthen a strength and provide more depth.

samthegooner

HomeSteak I think there are others that are on the chopping block well ahead of him - Kiwior, Zinchenko. But if he is unavailable for a large chunk of this upcoming season, I do agree that we will likely look to move him next summer.

HomeSteak

samthegooner kiwior is as good as gone. Zinchenko might survive, but barley. I meant for next year for Tomyiasu. It's make or break I think, if he gets injured again, he will be sold. And we all know, he getz injured by September

Don Pacifico

Don Pacifico think the signs were there that this deal isn't straightforward. When you're asking his previous club to renegotiate their sell-on fee with his current club, what do you expect?

At this point, I'd actually respect us not budging on price.

Don Pacifico

Big Willie yeah, I've been wondering that myself. And maybe Calafiori is good enough to displace Gabriel but I honestly think the latter is the best defender we've got at the club - would be really disappointed to see him go. Can only trust the judgement of those in charge but can't say it wouldn't concern me.

CPM

Big Willie It seems like the Gabriel situation was agent/Saudi transfer related, and is now over. I'm guessing his agent tried to leverage Saudi transfer interest into an improved contract, but who knows. Even if they do plan to phase him out, you can't convince me they played Partey at RB for sporting reasons to begin last season. Arteta seems to love him and trust him.

I also don't see Calafiori as part of some elaborate plan, or even see us targeting specific profiles. We seem to be looking to reinforce the whole squad, targeting players Arteta/Edu like who are available at good prices, with lots of possibilities with positions and roles.

We had four starting-quality defenders last season: Saliba, Gabriel, White, and the injured Timber. Arteta seems interested in signing a fifth. Gabriel could lose his spot just like any of the others can: if Calafiori pans out at LCB/LB, any four of that five would make a viable defense.

Big Willie

Don Pacifico I'd agree with that. Saliba is a great defender, one of the best and at such a young age but Gabriel has really moved up levels since joining us, if you remember I wasn't too enthusiastic with the signing at the time. But he's really shown how wrong I had him pegged.

I would loathe to lose him in order to bring someone else in who may or may not work out. It's another story if he ends up losing his spot fairly during the course of the season to someone who turns out to be better. I wouldn't be opposed to that situation. But I would be if we may be selling him before we're sure, or benching him immediately when someone else comes in.

Any potential replacement/upgrade needs to genuinely win his position otherwise we'd be breaking up the best CB partnership the premier leage has seen for a long time based on hopium that it can get even better.

Let's just hope that I have completely misread the situation and we are in fact bringing in defenders to compete across the backline rather than actively replacing Gabriel.

QuincyAbeyie

CPM I haven't seen anything to suggest that Timber is better than Tomiyasu yet.

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