{"id":479201,"date":"2026-02-16T21:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479201\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:09:09","slug":"riccardo-calafiori-injury-worries-rise-as-arsenal-face-transfer-ultimatum-with-new-principle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479201\/","title":{"rendered":"Riccardo Calafiori injury worries rise as Arsenal face transfer ultimatum with new principle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riccardo Calafiori’s Arsenal future raised after second crazy injury situation repeats itself\"Riccardo<\/p>\n

Riccardo Calafiori has got injured again as Arsenal face questions over player reliability(Image: Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For the second time this season, Riccardo Calafiori was taken out of an Arsenal starting eleven just before kick-off. Having already been replaced by Myles Lewis-Skelly ahead of the clash with Brighton earlier in the campaign, Bukayo Saka had to step in, with the aforementioned youngster moving back from midfield into his typical left-back slot against Wigan Athletic.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta, after the game, was rather coy when it came to providing any details on the nature of the injury, however. Not something which is particularly out of character for the Spaniard, and he will be prompted for further details in Tuesday\u2019s pre-match Wolves press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, him and Ben are the only doubts,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cWe have to wait and see in the next 48 hours how things develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ben White would later post to his Instagram story a post which said, \u201cNo injuries\u201d which will come as a boost to his and perhaps Thomas Tuchel\u2019s hopes of a call-up ahead of the March international fixtures.<\/p>\n

But on Calafiori, again, there appears to be little understood about the nature of the problem. The Italian would miss six league games, including the Brighton clash, for which he was ejected from the starting line-up earlier this season.<\/p>\n

He missed 16 league games through six separate issues spaced across the campaign. He was vital in the first half of the season and remained fit, with many hoping he\u2019d finally shaken off the recurring problems, but this latest one has again begun to raise questions.<\/p>\n

Arteta does have both Piero Hincapie and Lewis-Skelly, who can play at left-back, although the latter has been only sporadically used and has struggled for form.<\/p>\n

Whether this now sparks a summer decision on Calafiori and further recruitment into the defence remains to be seen. However, there is a sense that Andrea Berta\u2019s arrival and the club\u2019s establishment at the top end of the table have led to a more ruthless assessment of squad decisions.<\/p>\n

For example, despite Gabriel Jesus\u2019 public declaration of wanting to stay beyond the end of his current deal, there are currently no signs that talks are underway or will begin. The Brazilian has also suffered persistent injury problems.<\/p>\n

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riccardo Calafiori’s Arsenal future raised after second crazy injury situation repeats itself Riccardo Calafiori has got injured again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[27612,49,48,20160,122658,73917,54321,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-479201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-arsenal-injury-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mikel-arteta","12":"tag-myles-lewis-skelly","13":"tag-piero-hincapie","14":"tag-riccardo-calafiori","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}