Arsenal is preparing to announce the signing of Riccardo Calafiori in the next few hours, and the Italian will not be the last player they sign this summer.
He will soon become their second biggest transfer acquisition of the summer after the permanent signing of David Raya. But who will be next?
Several players are on Arsenal’s shortlist, and the capture of Calafiori is expected to open the door for more business.
However, they have to take it one player at a time. Fabrizio Romano expects them to step up their interest in Mikel Merino after signing Calafiori.
The Spanish midfielder is expected to leave Real Sociedad this season after a superb Euro 2024 performance.
Arsenal has contacted his entourage about a move to North London, and the response was positive, setting the stage for them to advance talks.
However, Romano adds that signing the Spanish star will depend on how much Sociedad asks for, considering he has entered the final year of his current deal.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Merino was in fantastic form at Euro 2024, and the midfielder will be a great option for Arsenal.
With a year left on his deal, he should not be too expensive to sign, and we expect Mikel Arteta to do his best to convince him to make the transfer.
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The Calafiori saga seems – at times – to have gone on longer than most TV soaps so I’m sure that there will be great rejoicing when he finally, absolutely, certainly, puts pen to paper at long last.
If any of the negotiations for other players mentioned takes as long as those for Calafiori have then I think we can confidently expect Arsenal to sign them – in the 2025-26 summer window.
Indeed, It has taken ages
The transfer saga took time because it wasn’t just between Arsenal and Bologna. Bologna had to talk to Basel, as Basel had negotiated a 50% sell on clause when they sold him to Bologna.
Yes, I know that, and it was the reason of course – but what a wait, nevertheless.
I’m not aware that there are any similar problems with any of the players Arsenal are supposed to be most interest in so let’s hope Edu and colleague are able to more swiftly.
That last line had me rolling. Too funny! Hopefully Calafiori can help put Kyle Walker out to pasture on Sept. 22.
For Arsenal, I don’t know why both incomings and outgoings are taking too much time. It goes faster for other clubs. Euros and Copa were MA’s excuses at first. At the moment it seems that things seem to have shifted to the Olympics. The new season starts in 3 weeks. We’d better be up and running before that time comes if we want to have any chance of clinching the crown come May 2025.
I think that the Euros and Copa did hold up some negotiations simply because the players selected for those were concentrating (or should have been) on playing in the tournaments. Of course, players not involved were free to negotiate (along with their agents) as normal.
I suspect a reason, not the only one, is that Arsenal tries to secure the very best deal possible when buying and selling. Some may say that they try too hard, particularly when it comes to selling. If so, you have to accept that there will inevitably be drawn-out negotiations which could fail in the end leaving little time to secure alternatives as the deadline approaches. That’s a potential risk Arsenal run in this window unless Edu can secure most of his remaining targets fairly quickly.
Just coming out of Euros, I think Calafiori is in top shape, so might not take much getting up and running just like how Rice did when he came. And he will hardly have to adapt much, as what he usually does is why he is being bought. Add some tweaks from Arteta, and he is up and running.
And similarly for Merino, if we sign him. He is a veteran player, who just won the trophy playing so many games so won’t be rusty at all. Not worried there as well. I know it’s fun to see the players joining a lot sooner, but the kind of players that we are linked with, played in the Euros and so match fitness might not be the issue.