Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has provided an update about the potential signing of Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori.
Arsenal have been frustrated so far in the transfer market after the Gunners missed out on their top striker target Benjamin Sesko, who put pen to paper on a new contract at RB Leipzig.
A new defensive addition was one of Arsenal’s priorities this summer and HITC reported over the weekend that the Gunners had struck an agreement with Bologna over the signing of Italian Riccardo Calafiori.
Calafiori was hailed as the new Franco Baresi following his performances at Euro 2024 and it now seems the Gunners are closing in on a deal.
Arteta coy on signing of Calafiori
It is expected that Calafiori will move to the Emirates Stadium and will become the Gunners’ first choice left-back options.
The futures of Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko are currently unclear with Takehiro Tomiyasu expected to be the other full-back option.
When asked if there was any update on any potential incomings, namely Calafiori, Arteta told Arsenal’s website: “No unfortunately not but obviously we know there are certain positions that we want to improve and give the squad better resources in terms of numbers where we are short.
“We will try our best but the main thing is to focus on falling in love with the players we have and make them better.”
The signing of Calafiori may well be a key one but the Gunners have suffered a key injury before the start of the new season with Tomiyasu suffering a serious problem.
Arteta provides Tomiyasu update after injury
Tomiyasu was omitted from Arsenal’s 26-man squad for the USA pre-season tour in what looks to be the latest injury issue suffered by the Japanese international.
Arteta was asked about the injury concern for Tomiyasu and labelled the incident as ‘unbelievable’.
“It is unbelievable,” Arteta said. “because the kid works so hard. He had an incident in training this week and we don’t know yet the extent of that [knee] injury but as a precaution we kept him [in England]. We’ll see what happens.”
Perhaps the injury suffered to Tomiyasu explains the sudden rush to get the Calafiori deal over the line.
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