Arsenal have agreed to a deal to sign 22-year-old defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna.
The 22-year-old defender who has been booked for medical has agreed to personal terms with the club, reports indicated that the player will join the Gunners in the United States after his medical.
After qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, the Italian side have been hit with the departure of Joshua Zirkzee who had switched to join up with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, while former coach, Motta took charge of the Italian side Juventus.
The Italian who participated in the 2024 EURO played as a centre-back for Italy for the group stage of the competition but failed to make an appearance for the Italians in the round of 16 before their exit after a defeat by Spain due to suspension.
The arrival of Calafiori has added to a rich defence consisting of Ben White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes who played as regular back four for the London side, while Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu who have played as left-back in the 2023/2024 season.
The defender was left by the coach out of the travelling squad for the preseason training camp to enable him to finalise agreements and travel to join his new team to be, Arsenal.
The transfer of the Italian had attracted interest from different clubs in the premier league, Chelsea who were admirers of the defender pulled out of the deal after the defender expressed his willingness to join because of Champions League football.
Before the agreement with the defender, in the 2023/2024 EPL season, Arsenal was ranked the best team in defending among English Premier League teams with the centre-back pairing of Williams Saliaba and Gabriel proven to be the most productive in the league according to clean sheets.
