Arsenal set a club record for goals scored in the Premier League last season with 91. But it was defensively that they really excelled. The Gunners only conceded 29 times, five fewer than Manchester City. No side got close to their tally of 18 clean sheets.
Their outstanding defensive efforts were a culmination of a deliberate strategy by Mikel Arteta to build this Arsenal side from back to front. Strengthening their foundations has been a priority and it continues with their deal to sign Riccardo Califiori.
With him included, 18 of Arsenal’s 24 first-team signings under Arteta have been either goalkeepers, defenders or defensive midfielders, for fees totalling £488m. It is more than twice as much as they have spent on only six attacking midfielders or forwards.
At £42m, Calafiori will become the sixth-most expensive signing since Arteta’s appointment, ensuring that, of the top seven, five are defensive players, led by the £105m Declan Rice, while only two, in Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, are attackers.
It is a far cry from the Arsene Wenger era, when a much higher proportion of funds went on forwards. But then Arteta is a very different coach; attuned to Arsenal’s identity but pragmatic enough to embrace the grittier aspects of the game too.
Of course, Arsenal remain a highly-technical side, capable of suffocating opponents by dominating the ball. But they only actually ranked sixth in the Premier League for possession last term. When the situation demands it, they will sit back and absorb pressure.
Arteta has acknowledged that title wins are built on defences and constructed his squad accordingly. Of course, his defenders are also crucial in terms of build-up and ball progression. But Arsenal’s attacking potency has been facilitated through solidity.
All of which helps to explain why Arteta is making another defender his next major signing. Calafiori, a left-back-turned-left-sided-centre-back, will allow the process of fortification to continue, his imminent arrival, anticipated to be on a long-term contract, completing a formidable, and adaptable, defensive unit.
Although mostly used in a back three by Bologna, and as part of a centre-back pairing by Italy during the European Championship, Calafiori looks more likely to slot in at left-back for Arsenal, where Oleksandr Zinchenko has become a victim of the side’s evolution.
Riccardo Calafiori impressed for Italy during their European Championship campaign
The former Manchester City defender, whose future at the club must surely be in doubt, lost his place to Jakub Kiwior following an injury in February. Kiwior, in turn, was usurped by Tomiyasu.
Kiwior, like Ben White and Jurrien Timber, is a natural centre-back with the ability to play as a full-back, and Calafiori, although a very different player to the Poland international, is positionally similar, albeit as a natural full-back who has adapted to the role of centre-back, like Tomiyasu, rather than the other way around.
It was Pep Guardiola who pioneered this recent phenomenon of using central defenders as full-backs, explaining the importance of having “proper defenders” who are able to “win duels one against one” in the position following Manchester City’s title win in 2022/23.
Calafiori, a combative and proactive defender with a frame more akin to a centre-back than a full-back, appears to fit the bill for Arsenal in that regard. In fact, his duel success rate of 63 per cent with Bologna last season was higher than any Gunners defender.
Calafiori was even more dominant in the air, winning 71 per cent of his aerial duels – the fifth-highest success rate in Serie A last season, again putting him above any Arsenal defender.
His aerial ability should further strengthen Arsenal from set-pieces, an area in which they already boast an excellent record. But his ability to adapt to different positions might be his most important attribute for Arteta. The Arsenal boss regards versatility as key.
“The idea is to be more unpredictable every year and be more difficult for the opponents to stop and nullify what we want to do,” he explained at the start of last season.
Calafiori played on the left of a back three for Bologna
He elaborated on the theme in conversation at the club’s London Colney headquarters several months later. “Now, everybody knows what you do,” he told Sky Sports. “You have analysts, you have all the data in the world, you have magnificent coaches.
“We all know very well what the opponent wants to do, so sometimes you have to be able to do things differently to try and catch them out and surprise them.”
This unpredictability is evident in midfield and attack, with Rice comfortable playing as a No 6 or No 8, depending on the game, and Havertz able to change positions too. It is most prominent, though, in defence, and will be further enhanced by Calafiori’s arrival.
From the outside, it is difficult to be sure how the various pieces might fit together. But then that is precisely the point.
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Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz discusses Calafiori’s ever-growing potential with Heiko Vogel, his former coach at Swiss club Basel
It helps, in terms of unpredictability, that, like the Ajax-schooled Timber, who excels at threading passes through opposition lines, Calafiori brings unique qualities too. The 22-year-old is a defender, first and foremost. But he has not just come to defend.
As demonstrated both at Bologna and with Italy, he excels at driving forward with the ball. His total of five assists last season was the most by a centre-back in Europe’s major leagues. He also ranked top among his peers for shots generated following a carry, with 14.
The hope for Arsenal is that this ball-carrying ability could be harnessed at left-back as well as centre-back, especially given the need for greater penetration on that flank.
Last season, Arsenal directed a far higher proportion of attacks down their right, where the chemistry between Saliba, White, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka has become key.
On the left, though, Granit Xhaka’s exit, coupled with upheaval at full-back and injuries to Gabriel Jesus, who typically gravitates towards that side, disrupted their rhythm.
Gabriel Martinelli suffered, recording half as many goals and assists as in the previous campaign, and while Leandro Trossard proved an effective alternative, Arsenal will hope that Calafiori’s introduction might help bring the Brazilian back to his best.
Of course, many Arsenal fans would love to see investment in the side’s attack this summer too. There is a feeling the side still lacks an out-and-out No 9 to spearhead the team, despite Havertz’s fine form in the role during the second half of the campaign.
But it is telling that, at the same time as working on a deal for another defender in Calafiori, Arsenal are seemingly focusing, at least for now, on overhauling their goalkeeping department.
Tommy Setford, 18, has already arrived from Ajax to be integrated at academy level. A possible loan exit for Karl Hein, meanwhile, has prompted interest in Wolves’ Dan Bentley as a new third-choice option. On top of that, there is an expectation that Aaron Ramsdale will need to be replaced having lost the No 1 shirt to David Raya.
The goalkeeping changes are another clue as to where Arteta’s priorities lie and there can be few arguments against the approach given the stellar defensive numbers underpinning their progress.
Calafiori is not just arriving as a defender, of course. His ball-carrying ability adds a new weapon to Arteta’s armoury. Above all, though, he is another pillar to further bolster their foundations.
