Why Arsenal Want Riccardo Calafiori So Badly
Arsenal had no trouble defensively last season... So why another centre back? Well; Riccardo Calafiori isn't 'just a centre back' - a player who's extremely comfortable in both central and wide left areas with extremely good on the ball capabilities is just what Mikel Arteta needed. Adam Clery explains how it'll play out for the Gunners...
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00:00Buongiorno, bellas, or who am I kidding, other men, Adam Cleary from 442 here and Riccardo
00:10Calafiore, depending on when this video goes out, has either just gone to Arsenal or is
00:15just about to go to Arsenal.
00:17Arriving in a very spenny deal from Bologna, he's going into Arsenal's back four, which
00:21is probably not one of the positions we expected Arsenal to be in the market, but such is his
00:26ability, his standing and the transfer fee they are buying him to play.
00:30But who is he?
00:31Why is he?
00:32Where is he?
00:33How is he?
00:34We will look at all of these things right now and explain why this could be a pretty
00:40pretty big deal for Arsenal.
00:42Okay, so just quickly though, before I start, this isn't analysis by the way, but just
00:48does anybody think that the vibes of this transfer are wrong?
00:53A young, robust, technical, talented, strappingly handsome Italian central defender going to
01:00Arsenal and probably being a success just doesn't feel right.
01:03You just look at this man here and tell me he does not scream 18 disastrous months at
01:09Chelsea followed by going back to Italy and winning like four Scudettos with three different
01:14teams twice as captain.
01:16I'm right, aren't I?
01:17But anyway, never mind, that is not the reality we are living in.
01:19He is going to Arsenal and despite the fact this feels like a bit of an out of left field,
01:23out of left field transfer, if you look at what he can offer them and what they specifically
01:27are lacking, it feels like it could make a lot of sense.
01:29So first off, he isn't just like another centre back.
01:33Arsenal do not need another centre back.
01:34They've got Saliba, they've got Gabriel, Ben White could conceivably play there, Kyrgios
01:38there in case of emergency.
01:40That's not an area they need to focus on.
01:41But while he played the overwhelming majority of his minutes at Bologna as the left sided
01:46centre back, he also started and occasionally moved into the left back area.
01:51The reason for this like dual role he's got is because he's incredibly comfortable on
01:56the ball.
01:57Obviously, he's got all the defensive solidity of a centre back.
01:59He excels in that position, but he also progresses the ball up the pitch and gets it into the
02:03middle of the park with great ease.
02:06This is his heat map from the entire season at Bologna last year, and obviously you can
02:11see he spends loads of time where you'd expect as a left centre back moving the ball up the
02:15pitch.
02:16He's also out wide quite a lot.
02:17He's very good at finding channels, finding avenues and then spending a lot of time in
02:22the opposition third.
02:23Wait, no, not thirds.
02:24Half, that's it.
02:25Now, despite how much I use them, I do always preach, let's not get too carried away with
02:29someone's FB ref profile because it only tells you so much.
02:31But nonetheless, he's got an FB ref profile that could get you carried away.
02:36First off, the defensive side of it, it all looks really solid.
02:39It's what you'd expect from an elite centre back.
02:41But the interceptions, his reading of the play, virtually nobody else in Serie A last
02:45season or even across Europe was reading the ball and cutting it out as well as he
02:50was.
02:51Now, interceptions, I always particularly think, are a really good marker of an intelligent
02:55footballer.
02:56It's all well and good to be charging around, winning the ball back, slight tackling here
02:59and getting into people there, but the ability to not have to do that and instead just cut
03:04out a pass because you've successfully read what the opposition are going to do is so
03:08much better because you've not had to go to ground.
03:11You can carry the ball from there.
03:12You can start counter attack.
03:14But what's really exciting about him is what he does on the ball.
03:17Like, here's a few choice excerpts, right?
03:19And a few that should jump out at you are his carrying numbers.
03:22He loves to get on the ball, drive that up the pitch.
03:25In terms of defenders that are creating chances for their teammates, here his shot creating
03:29action numbers are some of the best in Europe, whether they're from take-ons, whether they're
03:33from like tackles and interceptions, that's what the defensive actions means here, or
03:36just passes in open play.
03:38And the thing is, even if you've not watched any Bologna this season, you've probably actually
03:42seen that live and in living colour.
03:45Like, if you cast your mind back to Italy, Croatia at the Euros, the Italians were on
03:48the verge of going out and Calafiori, who actually already moved out to left back in
03:53that game, gets on the ball in a central area.
03:55Short of options, you can see him literally gesturing for someone in front of him to do
03:59something. He drives up the pitch instead, goes through the Croatian midfield, gets to
04:04the edge of the box after playing a neat little one-two, I might add.
04:08And the composure and the technique just to roll this across, unpanicked as the tackle
04:13comes in, leads to that goal.
04:15That's the kind of thing he really likes to do.
04:18And just one other really small one here, right, passes into the penalty area, great
04:22because he gets into those areas and he finds teammates, but also not to be dismissed, crosses
04:28into the penalty area.
04:29Yes, he can get on the ball and run it up the gullet of the opposition, but he's also
04:32not afraid just to get out a little bit wider into a little bit more space and whip it in
04:37instead, which we will come back to.
04:39So anyway, you put together these brilliant, on the ball, progressive numbers and you combine
04:43them with his really good reading of the game and his defensive solidity, and that effectively
04:47gives you the perfect balance between Kirill and Zinchenko.
04:52Because that was a fairly major decision Arteta was having to make last season.
04:56Like, do you want to go with Zinchenko and get his ball progression, his ball carrying,
05:00his possession ability to help you dominate the play, but at the same time sacrifice a
05:05bit of the defensive solidity because he's only a little guy, or do you want to be as
05:09robust at the back as you possibly can and then just hope that what Kirill can do on
05:13the ball, which isn't to be dismissed, but it's certainly not at a top level, will get
05:18you through.
05:19So Calafiore, in theory, does then give you the best of both worlds there.
05:23He's able to get on the ball and help you dominate possession and create chances in
05:27the opposition half, but he's not going to be as easily targeted by the opposition.
05:32And I think what might be quite encouraging for Arsenal here is that while Italy did look
05:37really underwhelming as a unit in the Euros, he stood out not just for his ability, but
05:42for his adaptability.
05:43I mean, if we look at his pass map from the Albania game, you can see he's really heavily
05:46involved in what they're trying to do, and he sort of stays in this sort of left-sided
05:51channel.
05:52So coming up from the centre-back, staying in pretty much a sort of narrow vertical line
05:55and helping them dominate the ball by being one of the bodies here.
05:58And obviously that's good for Arsenal because they're one of the best teams in the Premier
06:01League.
06:02They're going to have loads of games next season where the opposition just try and sit
06:05back and congest this area.
06:07So having someone who's really comfortable on the ball there, it's very beneficial.
06:10But against Croatia, where Italy really struggled to get on the ball in a meaningful way, and
06:15there was virtually no chance of them dominating those central zones, look how his pass map
06:19changes.
06:20All of a sudden, there's very few passes in that central area.
06:22He's not trying to get in there and make a difference because Croatia had control of
06:26the middle of the pitch.
06:27Instead, he's allowing himself to drop out into these wider areas where there was a bit
06:31more space so he can better impact the game.
06:34And that specifically leads to him doing something you'd probably never expect your left-sided
06:38centre-back to do, and that's get a ball like this into the box from this part of the pitch.
06:44And that's good for Arsenal because they're not going to dominate every single game.
06:48There's going to be some matches against other big sides or just teams at home who think
06:51they can take them on where you're going to need to find another way, where you're going
06:55to need to show a bit of adaptability.
06:58But honestly, what is most interesting about this transfer for me is not necessarily Calafiore's
07:03individual adaptability, it's the adaptability it's going to give Arsenal as a team.
07:09The way Arteta has had them playing for the last two seasons makes, in my opinion anyway,
07:13the three most important players, Ben White, Martyn Erdegaard and Mikaio Saka, that right-hand
07:19side of the pitch is where Arsenal are magic.
07:21I think you saw it a million times last season, right, as Arsenal move the ball up the pitch,
07:25Saka likes to come inside, which allows Erdegaard to get out wide and create, Ben White then
07:29pushes up to give them a bit of ball retention and a counter-press threat.
07:32Or occasionally, Mikaio Saka again will come inside, but this time he gets an overlapping
07:36run from Ben White, Erdegaard can kind of float here, and it gives them all number of
07:41options for either creating or moving the ball around from that position.
07:44They do so much on that side.
07:47As a result, this is a very handy graph illustrating Arsenal's zones of attack across the entirety
07:54of last season.
07:55They are incredibly overbalanced on their right-hand side, they focus on it way more
08:02than the left.
08:03And yeah, I guess part of the reason for that is because you tend to have Trossard here,
08:05who's more of a goal threat than a creator, and you've got Declan Rice, who's the left-sided
08:09number eight, who is many things, but none of them are really a creator.
08:13But undoubtedly, one of the major reasons is because when they're building out slowly,
08:17they can't really start on this side.
08:20Either Zinchenko will be there and you'll want to move into the middle, so you've kind
08:23of lost that zone entirely, or if it's Kirill, he's just not the player you're going to give
08:27the ball to, to drive past an opponent or carry it into a dangerous area or find a good
08:32pass.
08:33But you bring Kalafiorian on this side, and it's obviously not going to change Arsenal
08:36overnight.
08:37They're still going to be way better advancing and attacking down the right-hand side.
08:40But it does give the opposition more to think about, gives you more threat on that opposite
08:46flank.
08:47It makes you adaptable.
08:48Like, just to compare them directly, these are his interception and ball recovery numbers
08:52when compared to Zinchenko, who's still obviously a good player at doing that, but not anywhere
08:56near at his level.
08:57And these are his ball carrying and progression numbers when compared to Kirill.
09:01Oleksandr Zinchenko is eggs, Jacob Kirill is pancetta, and Ricardo Kalafiori is like
09:08the nicest Carbonara you've ever had sitting in a restaurant in the Amalfi Coast, staring
09:13out at a sunset.
09:14But just as one final thought I'd like to give, right, I remember doing these videos
09:18for Arsenal's two biggest transfers last summer, which was Declan Rice, who was definitely
09:23going to be their pivot player and start at the number six, and Kai Havertz, who was definitely
09:28going to be their left-sided number eight to basically be an improvement on Granit Xhaka
09:32and get into the box.
09:33But instead, what we actually got was Kai Havertz replaced Gabi Jesus up front, which
09:38felt mad, and Declan Rice replaced Xhaka, which also felt mad, but it worked.
09:43So who knows, maybe he comes in and Arsenal go to a back three with like Xhaka and Timber
09:48as the wing-backs.
09:49Wouldn't that be exciting?
09:50Or maybe he's just identified something in Saliba or Gabriel that pushes them further
09:54forward and he comes in at centre-back.
09:56Maybe he's the f***ing mascot, who knows?
09:59This is being said though, if there is maybe one weakness to his play currently, it's that
10:03for all he reads the game very well, his positional sense can sometimes be a little bit out of
10:08tune.
10:09Like he's still strong in the tackle, he's great in the air, all the other stuff you
10:12would look for in a defender, but he can occasionally just get the read of where he's supposed to
10:16be slightly wrong, which does feel like it slightly contradicts the interceptions thing.
10:21So sometimes he's very good at that, sometimes he sort of switches off.
10:24But he is like only 22, so as a part of his game you would expect to improve the more
10:30minutes he gets and the longer he plays, not something I would think is a massive worry
10:34at this point.
10:35And I mean saying that, that was only last season, he was a left-back when he was coming
10:39through the youth ranks, it's just that Tiago Mata took one look at him and went, oh no,
10:43oh no no, you'll play in the centre.
10:45But yes, good transfer in my opinion, interesting transfer if nothing else.
10:50But Arsenal fans, that's just my opinion, please let me know yours in the comments below.
10:54Is this like, is this getting you excited, is this getting the blood pumping, do you
10:57think this is an area worth addressing, would you rather seeing the money spent, I don't
11:02know, there?
11:03And of course if you have enjoyed this video, it is now transfer season, I am the Elmer
11:07Fudd of that, so please do consider subscribing to us here at 442, we will definitely have
11:12stuff about your club specifically, that is a promise.
11:16You can get me on all the social medias, at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y, the 442 socials are
11:20in the corner of the video.
11:21The latest issue of the magazine, I forgot to bring it in here, but it will be on sale
11:25now, so go pick that up, and until next time, I don't know why I keep doing that in these
11:29videos, my mind starts wandering, I've been Adam Cleary, this has been Riccardo Calafiori,
11:34we will see you next time, soon, later, bye.