Riccardo Calafiori moved away from Serie A last summer, but his time with Arsenal has been underwhelming. Now, AC Milan are looking to pounce.
There were several exports from Bologna last season, and few, if any, have actually performed to the level expected at their new club. So, perhaps Milan were right to hold off on making any moves.
One of the players that were linked was Calafiori, but it seemed very quickly apparent that the Rossoneri would be priced out of a move, and a deal seemed unlikely from the off. However, his eventual move to North London has not gone as many would have hoped.
Whilst a lot of the season has been spent nursing a knee injury, the Gunners are not pleased with the talent, and are already ‘willing to listen to offers’ in the summer, per Milan Live reports. Interestingly, it could be a straight sale too, rather than a loan, which shows their faith in his ability.
The price demanded is quite high it seems, with the report suggesting it to be somewhere in the region of €35 million, but ‘including counterparts’ could help, and Arsenal are reportedly fans of Malick Thiaw, who seems likely to leave anyway.
swap Calafiori-Thiaw?
Gimenez
Leao-Pulisic
Theo-Tiji-Ricci-Jimenez
Calafiori-Gabbia-Comuzzo
Maignan
Solid line up, but milan don’t buy italians. We would rather buy players like felix and emerson, and say italy don’t produce.
We’re not spending 80M on two defenders. Getting both Calafiori and Comuzzo is a pipe dream. I don’t believe this article about Calafiori not working out at Arsenal and I believe Comuzzo will extend with Fio and his value will rise too high for us. Plus, Pavlovic and Tomori seem to have found a second wind in the 3-4-3. If you think about it, it makes sense given their playing style. They’re perfectly suited for the outside center back positions. We’re 3-0-1 with the 3-4-3, with 9 goals scored, and 1 conceded. If this continues, why rock the boat and start with a complete new defense? IF we stick with 3-4-3 I say stick with Pavlo and Tomori, sell Thiaw, and bring in an experienced CB that can play both the Gabbia or Tomori positions, with Bartesaghi being the backup for Pavlovic. That saves us money, and keeps turnover to a minimum. This transfer window we need to focus on midfield and depth. Theo has never had a proper backup, we might need a new RB, we need a DM, we need a backup LW and a back RW. Plenty of churn and money spent there.
It seems thiaw have many suitor outside there. If new coach use 352 or 343 then calafiori will fit on the system, but if 433 or 4231 then comuzzo or coppola more better than calafiori. First we need fixed coach ( sergio or new coach)
I like him a lot. But he’s too injury prone. I vote Coppola.
Not sure why anyone thinks that “Italianising” the squad is a good idea. Italian footballers are fairly poor at the moment.
Well said. I don’t mind adding Italians – so long as they are good enough And not many lately are that good that WE CAN AFFORD.
The good ones will be too expensive for our CHEAP owners – so that leaves us with mediocre Italian players – really doesn’t add much
So adding Italians for the sake of adding doesn’t make much sense unless they are top of their positions – which costs lots of $$$ – and something we will NOT do
Fact taken, but why buy outsiders that don,t deserve to wear the milan jersey. belgian had a golden generation that never won anything, yet italy won a euro. I rather see italians in the team, rather than foreigh players under performing.
“globalisation” of the squad didn’t produce either considering they spent 250 millions on 18 players and only 2 turned out good.
You need a healthy mixture of both.
It’s not really anything to do with nationality. The rubbish players are rubbish regardless of where they come from. The real problem is our recruitment is garbage. Two are responsible for this: Furlani and Moncada. Out they must go.
the problem is the non-Italian we buy recently is garbage & overprice. atleast Italian know the Italian league. 4M Terra is same/ maybe better quality than 20m Musah/ Bondo & Sottil > Chuck.
i wish we going after some Italian like Barela/ Bastoni/ Tonali/ Retegui/ Ricci or non-Italian like Osimhen/ Kvara/ Pedri/ Endrick/ Guler but i know we wont cz cardinal always try to be funny (winning is boring etc) to hide that he doesn’t have that money
Dude from 1990 to 2025 there is 90℅ italian coach in italian club win scudetto or CL while only 10% foreign coach win scudetto or CL with serie A club. Italy player have talent but need trust from coach & club also their tax salary more expensive than foreign player. Dont forget ACM winning CL because italian player core. Look at ACM foreign player, only few are top player, wasted hundred million euro for many foreign player from yong hong li era till 2025 now for what result??? Look at IM build with italian core player like barella, bastoni, di marco now on their second final CL while this foreign player in ACM cannot even beat feyenoord
The way we have shut down opponents and kept them out since we started playing with 3 central defenders, I’m not sure there’s much need to rock the boat. If Thiaw is set on leaving and Arsenal are genuinely interested, a swap deal seems like a win-win for both teams, but if we’re blowing a bunch of our budget on this in addition, I’m not sold on the idea. I’ve been saying since Fonseca’s days that we need to play with 3 central defenders. I didn’t think we’d see a 343, I wabted a 352, and that always made Leao a headache, cause he’s too good too leave out but not usable in a 352. The fact Sergio has found a balance around a double pivot and 2 attacking wing-backs is a stroke of genius.
If we are adding new central defenders, they need to be quick and ball-playing CBs.
Of course, the formation change success is helped by the fact Maignans form is heaps better than in the fall and into March, Theo has stabilized although not on his best level but without the defensive reap I naibikoty he hasn’t let us down, and caused goals conceded Jimenez has grown into his role and Jovic, Abraham and now even Santi seems to find the goal more easily. Pulisic and Reijnders don’t have to carry the team by themselves anymore. Fofana has looked a lot more like he did for Fonseca, but without needing to drop down between the centrebacks, he has applied pressure up the field and we’ve been less exposed on the counter. All this to say that if we beat Roma and Monza, I honestly think we should extend Sergio’s contract for another season amd keep the project going. Get a new sporting director and have him meet with Sergio, not Furlani, about what the team needs. Our bench is not deep by any means, Jovic, Felix, Tammy, Walker are all out of contract, Theo and Maignan have renewals to negotiate… some stability on the bench would be good this summer, after 2 coach switches in 12 months and a revolution of 14 players in and out the year before.
Saelemaelers is coming back, and Real may take Jimenez away… I’m not sold sure Calafioei is where we should begin…
Btw, Lazio, Juve and Roma are 3 points ahead with a game more to play, but Juve-Lazio meet this weekend while Roma play Atalanta. Lazio have Inter next weekend when we have Roma and Fiorentina play Bologna. Points wilp be dropped. Fiorentina and Juve both play Venezia who are fighting with Empoli and Lecce for survival, all three within 2 points – Lecce meet Lazio as well, in what could be a must-win game for both teams for different reasons.
Things may look a smidgen better in 2 weeks time, especially if we win on Wednesday.