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Transfers
Arsenal wanted to sign £70m defender before going for Riccardo Calafiori
Riccardo Calafiori looks as though he could be Arsenal’s first big-money signing of the summer.
The Gunners have done a lot of work on signing the Bologna star, while Arsenal are said to have agreed personal terms with Riccardo Calafiori.
Calafiori may soon be a new Arsenal player, but, apparently, the Italy international wasn’t Arsenal’s first-choice.
Indeed, , Arsenal were looking at a different centre-back option heading into this summer.
Arsenal wanted Marc Guehi first
According to The Times, Arsenal were interested in signing Marc Guehi before going for Riccardo Calafiori.
This report claims that Arsenal went for Calafiori after they were priced out of a move for Guehi.
Apparently, Palace value the England international at around £70m, but that appears to be too much for the Gunners.
Marc Guehi and Riccardo Calafiori are very different players
This is very interesting to hear as Calafiori and Guehi are two very different players.
Guehi is very much a central defensive player, while Calafiori is reportedly seen as more of a left-back signing for Arsenal as the Gunners finally look to plug that problem area in their squad.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Kieran Tierney all haven’t proven to be genuine solutions to Mikel Arteta’s left-back quandary, and there’s hope that Calafiori could be the player to make that spot his own.
However, the fact that Arsenal were considering Guehi before Calafiori suggests that the Gunners may well be viewing the Italian as more of a centre-back signing.
That is intriguing considering how strong a partnership Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba have become.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, Guehi is too expensive to sign this summer, and at £70m, there may not be any clubs in the Premier League who make a push to sign Guehi in this transfer window, despite lots of reported interest.