Riccardo Calafiori redefines fullback role as Arsenal defender returns to Italy for Champions League action

Getty Images Few departures from Italian shores have prompted quite the doom-mongering over the state of the league that the sale of a Bologna center back to a Premier League giant did in the summer of 2024. “A disaster” for Serie A was the most notable response and from an august figure in Walter Sabatini, a director of football at, among other clubs, Lazio, Roma, Inter and Bologna. A little over two years later you can see why Sabatini was so perturbed by Riccardo Calafiori’s move to Arsenal. Serie A’s loss has been the Premier League’s gain, and Calafiori is…