Arsenal targeted Manuel Locatelli in the summer of 2021 while he was still at Sassuolo, but he turned them down in favour of staying in Serie A and joining Juventus.
Arsenal was hoping to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with Dusan Vlahovic in the winter of 2022. The striker’s agency made a deal with Juventus and disregarded Arsenal, which were keen to recruit their client.
Following those two failed deals, it appeared like Arsenal just weren’t lucky in moves for the ‘hot’ players in Italy, especially if Juventus was interested in them.
But then came Riccardo Calafiori in summer 2024, who was prepared to put direct pressure on Bologna’s board to send him to Arsenal as soon as he returned from his summer vacation, even if the mighty Juventus, led by his previous Bologna head coach Thiago Motta, wanted him.
The Emirates stadium dream was too magnificent to pass up. Arsenal’s Sporting Director Edu and his team’s tenacity were crucial in completing the Riccardo Calafiori transfer, despite the Italian side’s adamant refusal to sell the player unless they met his asking price. The Gunners did not overpay; they paid a substantial fee of £34 million, which was almost £8 million less than Bologna’s asking price of £42 million.
Calafiori insisted on moving to the Arsenal despite numerous other teams, including one undisclosed Premier League club, attempting to lure him.
With that transfer saga over, hopefully we’ll be proved right that the Calafiori deal is a very good deal for Arsenal amd we can prove we are a bigger pull than Juventus to Italian players.
Peter Rix
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