Few departures from Italian shores have prompted quite the doom-mongering over the state of the league that the sale of a Bologna center back to a Premier League giant did in the summer of 2024. "A disaster" for Serie A was the most notable response and from an august figure in Walter Sabatini, a director of football at, among other clubs, Lazio, Roma, Inter and Bologna. A little over two years later you can see why Sabatini was so perturbed by Riccardo Calafiori's move to Arsenal.
Serie A's loss has been the Premier League's gain, and Calafiori is returning to his homeland as "the best left-back in the league by far," according to Jamie Carragher. There might be one thing to quibble with regarding that label, however. Boxing the 24-year-old to terms as orthodox as "left back" does little to reflect the breadth of his talents.
Playing in Italy as an Arsenal player for the first time since a draw at Atalanta early in his first season, Calafiori has taken the long-building trend for inverting full backs beyond what might have seemed its logical conclusion. This is not a left back stepping into midfield so that another player can bomb on, but a full back bypassing midfield, free to roam as a number 10 might. Two assists in his first two games suggested that few teams had answers for what to do when Christos Tzolis holds width and Calafiori attacks the half space.
Chelsea's challenges in quelling the Arsenal threat from full back was a sign that the cure can sometimes be as painful as the disease. From the outset, Xabi Alonso lined his side up in more of a back four without possession than the five they were expected to use, but it soon became apparent that that was because Pedro Neto had been assigned a man-marking role on Calafiori. When the Italian moved into midfield, Neto followed him, the Blues' back five settled only when the Arsenal left back bombed on.
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 9 | Time: 3 p.m. ETLocation: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona -- Naples, ItalyLive stream: Paramount+Odds: Napoli +360; Draw +250; Arsenal -133 From a distance, it looked a trying experience. Whenever Arsenal had the ball, Neto was furtively looking left and right, his opponent bobbing in and out of his eyeline.
The effort was not wanting. It was just a task for a more seasoned defender. Particularly, that was, when Calafiori took it on himself to roam further and wider.
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