Good morning campers! Tim Stillman here to lovingly guide you through Tuesday while Andrew lands in Philadelphia in pursuit of the perfect cheese steak. (I think there might be a football match there this week too). Let’s start with the shock signing of Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori which none of us saw coming, that’s for sure.
Arsenal sign Riccardo Calafiori pic.twitter.com/872qPC2T0v
— Poorly Drawn Arsenal (@cantdrawarsenal) July 29, 2024
Calafiori flew into the US to join his teammates on the last leg of their US tour, flash his pearly whites and give those lavish locks a knowing wriggle. Fair play to Arteta for being secure enough in himself to sign the one player in football capable of giving him hair envy.
pic.twitter.com/QwOtUukr1R
— P (@perwilo) July 29, 2024
In all seriousness, it’s a solid addition of an Italian international who, like Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Timber and White, can play in central defence and at left-back and it will be fascinating to see which position he appears in more often. I have to say left-back feels more likely since that’s where the gap in the team appears to be.
Last season, Tomiyasu, Kiwior and Zinchenko shared the position but as Zinchenko faded from view as the de facto first choice, it did feel like a firmer option was required there. I would wager that one of Kiwior or Zinchenko will now leave and the market might dictate who that is.
When Arteta buys defenders, I think he is thinking as much about how the team builds play from the back as he is nuts and bolts defending and Calafiori certainly seems to add something different there with the way he strides out from the back. I suspect this signing is about having a firmer left-back choice and giving Arsenal a little bit more carrying ability on the left side.
I know all new signings say nice things about the club they are coming to but i was enthused by Calafiori’s apparent enthusiasm to join Arsenal, eschewing Juventus- not something many Italian…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/07/whats-the-story-calafiori/
Author : Tim Stillman
Publish date : 2024-07-30 06:38:18
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.