Defender Riccardo Calafiori has revealed how Mikel Arteta convinced him to join Arsenal in the summer transfer window.
The Arsenal defender has been speaking to Sky Italia, relayed by their journalist Gianluca di Marzio.
Calafiori joined Arsenal in a €45m deal from FC Bologna in the summer as the Gunners spent big to strengthen their defence.
It was a quick step up for the defender, who has only been at Bologna for a year following a €24.5m move from Basel in 2023.
The hope was that he could help solve the longstanding issue at left-back, where the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko have not proven to be the long-term solution Arsenal were hoping for.
He arrived with a growing reputation from Italy after impressing in Serie A and for the Italian national team at Euro 2024.
He’s yet to fully establish himself yet but has impressed in his 16 appearances in all competitions so far, with hopes high for his future at the club. And it was that future which Arteta sold him on when convincing him to move in the summer.
“The transition from Serie A to Premier League? Honestly, I can’t even explain how I did it,” he said.
“I had given myself months of adaptation but also thanks to the Arsenal staff I didn’t miss Italy and the change, starting off strong straight away. They managed me the first month and then I continued.
“I spoke a lot with Arteta, even before arriving in London. The first time he told me ‘You have to come here’. At the time I asked him the reasons, he showed me the project and the ideas he had for me. I understood that to get to the next step, coming here was the best thing.”
