Calafiori. A fresh setback for Arsenal has been revealed about Riccardo Calafiori’s fitness.
The versatile defender made an appearance for Italy in their Nations League victory over France on Friday, raising concerns about injuries for the Gunners.
Luciano Spaletti, the manager of Italy, substituted Calafiori after the Paris Saint-Germain attacker, Ousmane Dembele, unintentionally caught him on the leg.
At first, the Italy manager expressed optimism that Calafiori’s injury would not be too serious, even expressing hopes that the Arsenal defender would be fit for Monday night’s Nations League match against Israel.
But according to Fabrizio Romano‘s report on Sunday, Calafiori is no longer a member of the Italy team and has returned to North London after suffering the injury.
Following the injury, it has been announced that the defender will be evaluated by the Arsenal medical staff.
Although the extent of the injury has not yet been disclosed, Mikel Arteta will probably be questioned about Calafiori’s fitness when he addresses the media the following week.
The defender appears to be a serious doubt for Arsenal’s Premier League North London Derby matchup against Tottenham Hotspur the following weekend.
Romano provided an update on Calafiori subsequent to Sky Sports Italy’s news that the defender was absent from his nation’s Saturday training. According to the source, the 22-year-old was not present when his foreign teammates arrived for the most recent training session via the team bus.
In the event that Calafiori is ruled out of Arsenal’s match against Spurs the following weekend, Arteta may have to start the match with a few players out. Declan Rice, who received a red card in last week’s stalemate with Brighton, is one player who will undoubtedly miss the match due to a one-game suspension.
The fitness of Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus, and Jurrien Timber is still in doubt, despite the latter’s recent appearance for Norway. Due to their individual ailments, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mikel Merino, and Kieran Tierney are still out.
