Arsenal are facing ANOTHER delay in signing Riccardo Calafiori after Roma launched a legal challenge.
The Gunners are aiming to make the Italian defender their third signing of the summer after his impressive Euro 2024 performances and they have already agreed a fee with his current side Bologna. Arsenal are reportedly set to pay a combined £42.1m for the defender, but are facing delays ahead of any announcement.
Calafiori’s former club Basel are set to receive 50 per cent of any profit from the defender’s sale. Terms between Bologna and Basel continue to be discussed and it appears that another of his ex-employers have also caused another delay.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Roma inserted a 50 per cent sell-on clause that originally took Calafiori to Basel. They banked £1.2m in a sell-on fee after the Swiss side sold him to Bologna.
But Roma still believe that they are entitled to more with Basel set to make more profit due to his imminent move from Bologna to Arsenal. The Italian side believe they would be owed around £6.7m should a move go through. Basel, for their part, consider their original clause to have been satisfied with the original sell-on.
That argument has seen Roma and Basel employ lawyers in an attempt to thrash out a deal, which will only serve to frustrate Arsenal. Calafiori, 22, started his career with Roma, making 18 appearances before moving to Basel.
He was with the club for just a season ahead of returning to Serie A with Bologna. Speaking about his time in Switzerland earlier this summer, he said: “Basel wasn’t really my choice. I was almost forced because it was the only team left and I was forced to go there.”
“But from the first day I changed my mind, there I found that continuity that I always lacked and played thirty games in a season. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone.
“At the beginning I even played a little with Mourinho, then I went to Genoa and it went badly from there. Eventually the possibility of Basel arose and I went there
“Six years have passed since the ACL injury, but my reaction has always been to get back on the pitch, I never thought I would stop. I have a wonderful relationship with my former teammates, I grew up at Roma and I had a very good time.”
Calafiori would become Arsenal’s third signing of the summer should they eventually get his arrival over the line. The Gunners have already signed goalkeepers David Raya and Tommy Setford from Brentford and Ajax respectively.