As per reports, Arsenal are very much interested in signing Riccardo Calafiori of Italian club, Bologna. The defender was sensational in this year’s Euro competition. However, things did not go as planned and Italy were eliminated by Switzerland in the Round of 16. They lost 2-0 against the Swiss where Freuler and Vargas scored for the team in red. But in the short period of time, Calafiori impressed the whole football world. As a defender, he has also registered an assist from himself in this tournament. It was very surprising that the defender was compared with none other than Paolo Maldini, arguably one of the best defenders of all time. But Calafiori never expected his life could take a turn like this. His career could have ended before it had even started.
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Early days of Calafiori
Riccardo Calafiori was born on 19th May 2002. He was just 16 years old when he signed his first ever professional contract with Italian club AS Roma. But he never knew how his life was about to take a massive turn. In a UEFA Youth League match against Viktoria Plzen, he was injured pretty badly. His right knee had swollen pretty badly. It was not something people would see normally. He got injured in this way when he received a full studs-up tackle from one of the players from Viktoria Plzen.
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The situation took a very ugly turn when specialists and doctors assessed the situation. Calafiori was in shock when he learned that his ligaments were all ruptured, along with his articular capsule and meniscus. This was a very rare injury as mentioned by the specialists.
“Something like this usually only happens in motocross – not in football. It’s an injury that happens only once every 10 years.”
A medic on how grave the injury of Calafiori was
However, this did not break the mentality Riccardo Calafiori had. After he heard from his medics about his injury, he wrote a paragraph on Instagram which showed that his mentality was unreal.
“The time has come to put aside the boy, the, at times, little boy that I have been until now, and become a MAN.”
Words of Calafiori on his Instagram post
The career of Calafiori after injury
Calafiori was out for 347 days before his comeback for Roma. However, there were doubts on whether he would be able to play like he used to play. Everyone at Roma knew how talented this young defender is. On his comeback, Calafiori quickly gained the media’s attention when he assisted Edin Dzeko and helped Roma qualify for 2021 semi finals of the UEFA Europa League.
After signing ‘The Special One’ Jose Mourinho, Roma and Calafiori parted their ways. He spent a year at FC Basel and then made a return journey to Serie A to play for Thiago Motta’s Bologna. Under Motta, he became a centre back and became one of the most exciting prospects in world football.
Calafiori has now proved on the biggest stage and now big clubs are after him. Arsenal are looking like the one who are going to end up with the Italian wall. Do you think Calafiori should move to Arsenal?
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