Good morning campers! Tim Stillman right here to lovingly information you thru Tuesday whereas Andrew lands in Philadelphia in pursuit of the right cheese steak. (I feel there is perhaps a soccer match there this week too). Let’s begin with the shock signing of Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori which none of us noticed coming, that’s for certain.
Arsenal signal Riccardo Calafiori pic.twitter.com/872qPC2T0v
— Poorly Drawn Arsenal (@cantdrawarsenal) July 29, 2024
Calafiori flew into the US to hitch his teammates on the final leg of their US tour, flash his pearly whites and provides these lavish locks a understanding wriggle. Truthful play to Arteta for being safe sufficient in himself to signal the one participant in soccer able to giving him hair envy.
pic.twitter.com/QwOtUukr1R
— P (@perwilo) July 29, 2024
In all seriousness, it’s a stable addition of an Italian worldwide who, like Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Timber and White, can play in central defence and at left-back and will probably be fascinating to see which place he seems in additional typically. I’ve to say left-back feels extra doubtless since that’s the place the hole within the workforce seems to be.
Final season, Tomiyasu, Kiwior and Zinchenko shared the place however as Zinchenko light from view because the de facto first alternative, it did really feel like a firmer choice was required there. I might wager that considered one of Kiwior or Zinchenko will now go away and the market may dictate who that’s.
When Arteta buys defenders, I feel he’s pondering as a lot about how the workforce builds play from the again as he’s nuts and bolts defending and Calafiori actually appears so as to add one thing completely different there with the best way he strides out from the again. I believe this signing is about having a firmer left-back alternative and giving Arsenal slightly bit extra carrying capability on the left aspect.
I do know all new signings say good issues concerning the membership they’re coming to however i used to be enthused by Calafiori’s obvious enthusiasm to hitch Arsenal, eschewing Juventus- not one thing many Italian gamers do- in doing so. Arteta himself mentioned, ‘We knew different golf equipment have been however he advised me- ‘let me know while you’re prepared, my luggage are prepared and I simply need to come to Arsenal.’
Calafiori himself sounded impressed with what has been brewing at Arsenal in current seasons and, apparently, in his Sky Sports activities interview he mentioned he was on the Crystal Palace residence recreation in January which suggests the curiosity has been there for some time.
“I spoke rather a lot with the coach and with Edu, they usually satisfied me, however I used to be already satisfied on my own. I feel it’s the very best venture for me for the subsequent few years, and I feel I’ll enhance as a participant.
“I simply met [Jorginho] one month in the past, however I can see that he’s a extremely good man. I used to be already satisfied however he compelled me. He mentioned: ‘come, come, come! You’ll take pleasure in being right here, the workforce is superb and the employees, all the pieces is nice.’ You possibly can see that already from the primary jiffy right here.”
Arteta gave a pre-match press convention forward of the sport with Liverpool tomorrow night time / Thursday morning relying in your timezone and he instructed numbers in defence have been gentle final season, inflicting him to should overplay some gamers (and largely having the ability to due to their good health information).
‘We solely had six defenders within the backline and at this degree it’s a must to be actually fortunate to maintain the season like this. We have been, as a result of William for instance and Gabriel almost performed each minute, we performed greater than 50 per cent extra minutes than the earlier season and if we’re ready to try this constantly over the subsequent three or 4 years that’s a giant query mark. Clearly you can’t simply guess on that, that’s a giant guess and we don’t need to take that guess.’
For extra in-depth evaluation on Calafiori, we’ve you coated. Phil Costa has a extremely fascinating profile on the participant and his strengths and weaknesses right here. Whereas we even have an audio providing as Phil and Andrew chew the fats over the participant on patreon in podcast type right here.
In the meantime, the sale of Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham appears to be gathering tempo with a number of reviews {that a} payment has been agreed with Arsenal pocketing a cool £27m plus one other potential £7m in add-ons. I don’t know whether or not that represents a superb value or not for the reason that market has been so skewed by PSR shenanigans.
On one hand, it looks like sure golf equipment (!) are in a position to promote 14-year-old goalkeepers known as Clumsy McLettucehands for this type of cash. Alternatively, Arsenal aren’t ensconced in that specific model of switch actuality and Smith Rowe has barely performed for 2 years and as an academy product, the sale represents pure revenue. It’s not a miserly amount of cash in any case and it sounds prefer it may fund a transfer for Mikel Merino.
For Smith Rowe, he must go and have a profession now and it has been clear for a while that isn’t going to occur at Arsenal. Arteta wants choices he truly trusts too, they will’t have a clutch of 4-500 minute a season gamers any longer and they should begin making some money from gross sales.
Okay, nicely that was two fairly meaty items of Arsenal information from yesterday. We may have an Arsenal Ladies Arsecast out later at the moment with myself and the Guardian’s Tom Garry swapping notes on breaking switch exclusives in ladies’s soccer so do verify that out. In any other case, I’m again over the weekend.
Sadly, I couldn’t make the boys’s US tour this 12 months (I will probably be in Washington in just a few weeks for the ladies’s tour) however I’m going to my first match for the reason that finish of final season on Saturday because the Arsenal XI play away at Lincoln Metropolis. Rather more scenic and glamorous than Hermosa Seaside, I’m certain you’ll agree…
