Riccardo Calafiori is an Arsenal player, having joined the Premier League club this summer. He did not have any lack of options though. After a fantastic Serie A campaign, he impressed at the recent EUROs as well although Italy's overall performance was disappointing. Clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and several others were believed to be interested in the versatile defender.
In fact, some rumours had emerged not too long ago that Real Madrid viewed Calafiori as the ideal alternative in case they failed to sign Leny Yoro this summer. As it turns out, they missed out on both defenders.
Yoro went on to join Manchester United. Calafioro made the move to Arsenal. And it remains to be seen whether Real Madrid will strengthen their ranks at centre-back or not.
As reported by The Athletic, since the end of last season, Arsenal have been Calafiori’s priority. The Italian international wanted to move to London and the Premier League, and above everything else, the defender wanted to play for Mikel Arteta.
Why Riccardo Calafiori joined Arsenal over Real Madrid
So, it looks like Arsenal were Calafiori's first choice this summer despite drawing interest from plenty of other clubs. Playing under the management of Arteta appears to have been one of the key reasons behind the move taking place.
Arteta has established himself as one of the top managers in Europe right now even though Arsenal have not won much silverware under his management. In fact, he was believed to be one of the candidates to be the next Real Madrid boss before Carlo Ancelotti ended up extending his contract last season.
Someone like Calafiori could have been an excellent signing for Real Madrid. But it looks like he wanted to go to Arsenal and ended up getting the move as well. Hopefully, Los Blancos will be able to land a top centre-back this summer.