William Gallas speaks on Riccardo Calafiori
Arsenal looks to have sorted the transfer saga going on with Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori with the 22-year-old Italian international looking set to sign a contract with Arsenal. And, if reports are true, travelled to London yesterday to complete his medical before signing a contract and joining Mikel Arteta and the rest of the squad in the USA for their pre-season tour. Calafiori joins a strong backline and group of defenders and although he’s young, will want to be fighting for his place in the first team straight away.
Former Arsenal captain and defender William Gallas has recently spoke on the incoming signing and what he thinks of him, saying this “I didn’t really watch that many Italian games at the European Championships. For me to watch the Italian team, you know, it brings back too many bad memories (William lost the 2006 World Cup final to Italy), so that’s why I didn’t watch them.”
“I did however speak to one of my friends who knows a lot about Italian football and asked him what he thought of him. My friend played in Italy for several years and watches Serie A every week – he played for Inter Milan and Lazio, he was a great player, but I’m not going to say who – and he told me that Ricardo Calafiori is really, really good.”
“He’s young. He has good quality, and he can play as a centre back or as a left back. I think he would be a good signing for Arsenal because the club doesn’t really have a left back at the moment. There are doubts about that position.”
He then went on to say that he thinks Zinchenko’s days are numbered at the club and think the 22 year old Italian could be the answer to Arsenal’s problems at left back saying this about Zinchenko “‘I think Zinchenko had similar problems when he was at Manchester City. If you can remember, I don’t think that he played in that many of their big games because Pep Guardiola thought that his defensive ability was limited.”
‘With the ball and in possession, he’s a talented player. He is good on the counter attack, but when you ask him to defend and when you put him under pressure, he makes mistakes. He has made a lot of mistakes at Arsenal which is why they are looking to improve their defence.
‘I think Arsenal’s football has moved on from what Zinchenko offers them. Football is a game that constantly evolves, and it is changing again at the moment in terms of how the best teams try and defend.
‘Over the last few years, we’ve seen teams ask their left backs and right backs to go into midfield and build play from the back. We’ve seen back fours become back threes with the ball – a defenders role has changed a lot, but now the focus seems to be on doing what they are there to do: defending very well and being strong. There is a trend moving towards a much more solid back four.”
It will very interesting to see how Arteta is going to tweak his defensve tactics for the new season, butCalafiori will obviously be a great addition to Arsenal’s back four and gives us another level of squad depth that we didn’t have last season and needed. But, he is still young and he’s coming to one of the toughest leagues in the world. He will be under a lot of pressure because he’s coming to a big club and I think we shouldn’t put too many expectations on him for his first months at the club, it’s going to be a transition and he’s got plenty of year’s to improve and hopefully under Arteta’s guidance can continue to shine.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Spells the end for Zinchenko, no place for a LB that can’t defend.
Arteta doesn’t seem interested in trying Zinchenko as a B2B midfielder, so time to sell; best outcome for the club and Zinchenko.