THE career of Riccardo Calafiori has often flirted with disaster and disappointment.
At the age of 16, it was believed the Roma academy kid would never play – or even walk – again after a horror tackle during a Youth League match against Viktoria Plzen in October 2018.
The Italian defender had ruptured every ligament in his left knee.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s surgeon Dr Freddie Fu was even taken aback before operating, comparing it to a motorbike accident.
Roma practically went into mourning.
Netting a hat-trick for the first team soon after in the Champions League, striker Edin Dzeko held up a shirt with Calafiori’s name on in support.
Club legend Daniele De Rossi would help ferry Calafiori from home to the training centre and back again in the weeks that followed.
The rehab was brutal, but Calafiori’s recovery – mostly out in the States – was extraordinary, returning to action in just under 12 months, earning him the nickname of ‘The Bulldozer’ by his father.
And he later got a tattoo on his hand that reads: “Just be sure to notice the collateral beauty”.
It is why – back in the USA six years later to join up with Arsenal on their pre-season tour after completing a £42m switch from Bologna – Calafiori is still in disbelief.
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Embracing boss Mikel Arteta in their team hotel, the 22-year-old – known as ‘Ricky’ to those closest to him – asked: “Is this real?” with the Spaniard replying with a big smile: “Finally, it’s real”.
Both Arteta and sporting director Edu have got their man after months of work to bring the Italy international to the Emirates.
A player they feel “fits the profile” – young but immensely talented as a versatile, ball-playing defender – while Calafiori only had eyes for North London, despite late interest from Juventus and Real Madrid.
Arteta revealed last season he wants 22 world class players in his squad – two in each position – to be able to constantly rotate without feeling their starting XI is weakened.
Calafiori certainly adds to this, joining the likes of William Saliba, Gabriel, Ben White, Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu as defensive options.
He is able to play at both left-back and centre-back – something he first learned he could do while at Basel during the 2022/23 campaign having just been let go his boyhood Roma under Jose Mourinho.
This was yet another setback in Calafiori’s career that had the potential to be make or break, ruthlessly dumped by Mourinho in the winter window after featuring in a humiliating 6-1 Europa Conference League group stage loss to Bodo Glimt in October 2021.
Yet ‘The Bulldozer’ continued on its path, helping Basel to the Conference League semi-finals before joining Serie A side Bologna for £4m last summer.
Calafiori said of Mourinho: “It was his choice to sell me, but I’ll also tell you something. Mou and I talk; he wrote me several messages, and there’s a nice relationship between us.
“He forged my character and personality. The fact that he asks you for 200% in every training session and that he makes his choices by looking at what you give on the pitch.”
Calafiori’s development must also pay credit to coach Thiago Motta at Bologna, admitting last term: “I tried things tactically that I had never seen”.
Motta and Arteta have similar philosophies, having grown up together as players in the Barcelona academy, perhaps accelerating any adaptation time.
Yet Calafiori is a quick learner.
Last season in Serie A, he kept 15 clean sheets in 30 appearances, helping Bologna to Champions League qualification for the first time since 1964.
He racked up a pass completion of 89.8% to rank third in the league last term, including 76 accurate long balls and 17 goalscoring chances created.
No centre-back in Europe’s top five leagues produced more assists than him with five.
He also became Bologna’s first-ever Serie A Player of the Month winner in May, paving the way for his Italy senior major tournament debut at the Euros last month.
There is now a Premier League debut on the cards, with Arsenal’s opener against Wolves on August 17 after Emirates Cup clashes with Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon next week.
Calafiori has said in the past he aspires to be like Manchester City’s John Stones, while former England manager Fabio Capello has compared him to a young Sergio Ramos.
But for someone so young and highly rated, Calafiori also has his feet firmly on the ground.
When previously asked about his biggest achievement in the football so far, he said: “Being able to buy my parents a house.
“We lived in a rental, but when I played for Roma I managed to buy a beautiful house for them. Seeing them calm, safe and happy is priceless.”
