Riccardo Calafiori was on the scoresheet for Arsenal against PSV Eindhoven yesterday.
The Italian scored the Gunners’ seventh goal in the Netherlands, playing a role in their emphatic 7-1 triumph that near-guaranteed their spot in the next round of the Champions League.
Some days ago, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had spoken about the possibility of using Calafiori as a striker due to his versatile nature, amidst a raft of injury problems in the attacking areas.
After the win over PSV, the defender was directly asked by Sky Italia whether he would be comfortable playing as a striker.
He said, as relayed by Tuttomercatoweb: “As I have always said and I repeat, I feel I can play any role and obviously I would be ready to play it. Then, honestly, we should talk more about the technical and tactical aspects, it wouldn’t be easy because I’ve never done it in my life.”
The 22-year-old spoke further, insisting that he would definitely do the job if Arteta asks him to do so.
He said: “Obviously if he asks me I’ll do it, but I don’t know if it could really be an alternative. It’s one thing to already be there, as I always tell my teammates, and another thing to get there on the run, which is a totally different thing. And I’m really good at that.”
Whether the Gunners boss ever uses Calafiori in attack is questionable, largely because the Italian has either been a left-back or centre-back in his entire career.
As a left-back, he has shown the ability to surge forward or invert into midfield. As a centre-back, he also prefers carrying the ball progressively.
Playing in any other position would reduce his strengths of ball-progression and take away his main traits as a player.
Due to that, the idea of him playing in attack should stay as a mere suggestion – even if the Azzurri star wouldn’t be against it.
