On Thursday, journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reported Riccardo Calafiori’s agent Alessandro Lucci is working to close the gap between Arsenal and Bologna in order to take his client to the Emirates.
He also stated the Italian club are demanding €50m plus bonuses, which the Gunners haven’t met so far.
Arsenal have managed to get ahead in the race and have reportedly agreed a five-year deal worth €4m per year with the defender.
Mikel Arteta’s side initial bid which hasn’t convinced Bologna, and they have to pay part of the fee to the Italy international’s former club, FC Basel.
Therefore, the newspaper claims Bologna want the Premier League side to ‘make an extra effort’, meaning make an improved offer, to get this deal over.
If Arsenal don’t make a new bid soon, Bologna would have to ask the player to start pre-season training with them.
Despite this, the report says the ‘outcome of the story seems to be written’, as happened with Joshua Zirkzee [set to join Manchester United].
This makes it clear that the deal to take Calafiori to Arsenal is expected to go through, but Bologna are ‘trying to maintain a position of strength’, likely to push the Gunners to meet their demand.
