“I can confirm…” – Club chief admits need to be “realistic” about Arsenal & Chelsea transfer target’s future

Bologna director Giovanni Sartori has confirmed that he expects it will be difficult to keep hold of star defender Riccardo Calafiori this summer amid interest from Arsenal and Chelsea.

The highly-rated young Italy international has been in superb form in Serie A in recent times and it seems inevitable that he’ll earn himself a big move sooner rather than later.

It seems Sartori is keen to be frank and honest with the club’s fans about this, saying he would love to keep Calafiori but needs to be realistic about that prospect, as quoted below by Fabrizio Romano in a post on X, formerly Twitter…

??? Bologna director Sartori: "I can confirm that we will consider proposals for Riccardo Calafiori. It'd be fantastic to keep him but we have to be realistic".

"In case of good proposal, we will discuss about that; and we anticipate clubs from abroad to move". pic.twitter.com/6dIU592gqq

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 2, 2024

Calafiori has become the subject of interest from Arsenal and Chelsea, with further info and details from Charles Watts as he spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside here, and it seems the London giants have both been given a boost in pursuit of the 22-year-old.

Bologna clearly seem to be under no illusions over Calafiori, so if the money is right, a deal is surely there to be done for Arsenal, Chelsea, or indeed multiple other top European clubs.

One imagines Bologna would ideally like to avoid losing such a fine young player to one of their rivals in Italy, especially as they’ve already seen Thiago Motta depart the club to take over as Juventus manager this summer.

Calafiori following Motta to Juve would be a huge blow and surely difficult for the fans to take, and while keeping him would undoubtedly be the best option, cashing in on him for a big fee as long as he moves abroad might not be the worst outcome in the long run.

Arsenal would do well to add some depth to their defence this summer as there’s arguably quite a bit drop-off in quality if either one of William Saliba or Gabriel Magalhaes gets injured, while Chelsea are in real need of a long-term replacement for departing veteran Thiago Silva, and an upgrade on inconsistent performers like Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile.