Mikel Arteta says Riccardo Calafiori’s “courage and personality” were key factors behind his decision to hand the player a first Arsenal start away at Manchester City last Sunday.
Signed from Bologna at the end of July, the defender was eased into things with cameos against Aston Vill and Brighton before an untimely injury, sustained on international duty, sidelined him for a couple of weeks.
After an impressive performance off the bench against Atalanta, Arteta finally decided to throw the 22-year-old in the deep end at the Etihad and he didn’t disappoint, netting a fabulous curling effort to equalise before playing an important role in the Gunners’ second-half rearguard action.
Asked about the player’s adaptation to England, Arteta told his pre-Leicester press conference: “Really good. Obviously, he came, had a little glimpse then he went on national duty and got injured.
“We had to manage him again and then we throw him against Man City away for the first Premier League start and I think he was superb.
“He’s really good, he’s adapted really well to the group, his understanding is exceptional and you see he’s a player with an enormous courage and personality to play, so he’s going to give us a lot.”
Asked about the decision to play him against City, Arteta continued: “With another player, probably I wouldn’t do it.
“But because I know how he copes and when I speak to him he really wants it, I decided to do it and he showed that he’s prepared to do it.”
Arteta also had warm words about another of his big-money summer signings, Mikel Merino.
While the Spain international hasn’t been able to play due to a fractured shoulder sustained in his first training session, he’s excited that the midfielder has returned to partial training and what he’ll bring to the team.
“He’s going to bring first an unbelievable football brain. He’s so intelligent, the way he decides, he occupies spaces, he makes decisions, it’s very rare to see that,” said Arteta.
“Then a really talented player in every phase, defending, attacking, he can deliver things, he can do things that complement really well with the quality we have in midfield.
“Physicality, for sure, and then he’s a big threat. The moment he’s in the opponent’s box, you see that he’s a big, big threat.”
I DO miss international football so much.
The sooner Calafiori gets back to the Nations League games the better.
And as we know with Martin, the National teams medical knowledge is soooooo much better than anything at the Arsenal.
🤮
A lot of folks seem to be missing the sarcasm font here.
So the news from earlier on in the week, about Merino being back on the grass, is true? That’s super exciting! People are moaning.now becasue we are not rolling over anymore. Wait until they see the iteration of our midfield that has Merino and Rice in it, in front of Gabi and Saliba! I have been quietly optimistic about him. He strikes me as one of those signings that is a decent player at a decent club, fairly known, moves to a bigger club without much fanfare, only to EXPLODE into life. I hope my feelings about this one are… Read more »
Both these guys arrived with relatively little fanfare, but they are going to be big big players for us.
I guess we have different ideas about “relatively little.” It seemed like we had constant Califiori rumours, sightings, updates for weeks. Not quite “will Madrid announce Mbappe?” but there did seem a lot of hype about him. Which, it looks like to me, he is very likely to live up to.
To me it seemed like there was a lot less excitement by the time it was actually announced because of how long the negotiations took. People were almost more frustrated by that than anything else. I also remember having to write several posts to justify why we needed another LB. I haven’t heard much in the way of “he has to play” etc etc. to me he’s flown under the radar until that goal.
Love goals scored from downtown. Hope Calafiori will score many of these by the end of the season.
Come on the boys, that’s one positive presser, cala and Merino in out squad be class, such strength and addition of Tomi will strengthen squad no end
The signings of Merino, Calarfiori and Timber last year are all great signings for incredibly reasonable fees all with the ability to step in and start and be impact players for us. Compare that to what Chelsea and other clubs have done spending far more on players that rarely play. Amazing that the three mentioned were all bought for about what we paid for Rice last year (and of course Rice has been worth what we paid). Really promising future for this squad for years to come.
Established internationals like Calafiori, Jesus, Merino, Havertz and Rice, academy gems like Nwaneri and everyone in between who is now at the club. These guys all just wanted to be part of what we are building, didn’t want to look elsewhere. That factor helped us not only get them but get them for a reasonable fee. Arteta effect.
I made a comment after the city game about needing someone to replace TP5s positional sense and was reminded Merino is already in the fold. To hear Arteta echo that before he’s even played is encouraging. Our attack/defense in transition in the future is predicted on the Merino signing being a success.
Just waiting for the Rice . Merino. Ode. midfield to play like a dozen matches together.. We will rule the EPL mark my words…