San Daniele del Friuli was an atmospheric neighbourhood trattoria in Highbury that was as soon as a daily vacation spot for Arsenal’s gamers and administration. It was situated a five-minute stroll from the stadium’s marbled entrance.
On Champions League nights, it stayed open late and diners would clap warmly as supervisor Arsene Wenger got here in for a chew to eat with vice-chairman David Dein. Gamers Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Freddie Ljungberg et al usually arrived, showered and altered, to unwind with buddies after the sport. The homeowners, a pair of brothers who supported Udinese and Arsenal, handled everybody like household.
For a very long time, that was about as robust a connection as might be discovered between Arsenal and Italy.
The signing of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a transfer value as much as £42million ($54m) feels momentous for these of an Italo-Arsenal persuasion. It’s the first time the membership have signed an Italian with star high quality, a participant in that nation’s finest traditions of ‘calcio’ who has his finest years forward of him.
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It’s maybe peculiar that so few Italian gamers of word have made their approach to Arsenal.
Italy won’t be an exporter of footballers to match France and extra lately Spain, which have been dominant forces throughout the continent for the reason that main leagues started to cross-fertilise their expertise within the Nineties. However it’s nonetheless fairly excessive within the record of countries apart from England represented within the Premier League since its inception.
Non-English nations by variety of Premier League gamers
The Italian group in London has thrived for the reason that 1800s, with the northern boroughs of Islington — the membership’s heartland — and neighbouring Camden among the many most populous areas for Italians who settled right here.
Possibly it had one thing to do with by no means having an Italian supervisor, or possibly it’s only a curious quirk, however Arsenal have hardly ever gone down that footballing path.
Niccolo Galli was the primary Italian to affix Arsenal. A proficient defender, he moved to Arsenal’s academy in 1999 and was a part of the group that received the FA Youth Cup a 12 months later. He was extraordinarily extremely regarded however, at a time when it was nonetheless comparatively novel to maneuver overseas as a youngster, returned to Italy for a mortgage interval to proceed his research and soccer improvement. Tragically, he was killed in a moped accident on his approach dwelling from coaching aged 17.
Galli was Arsenal’s first Italian participant (John Walton/EMPICS through Getty Photos)
Arturo Lupoli arrived in 2004 and fitted the mould for ‘undertaking youth’ — a interval when Arsenal deliberately headhunted younger gamers with excessive potential to assist the membership address cost-saving measures as they paid for the constructing of the Emirates stadium.
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Cesc Fabregas was the decide of a bunch that included Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Carlos Vela and Philippe Senderos — youngsters who had been coveted by scouts internationally as best-of-a-generation prospects. Lupoli was a proficient ahead who had damaged scoring information as an under-17. However it by no means fairly occurred for him.
Then got here Vito Mannone, a goalkeeper who was largely a reserve throughout his Arsenal years. He spent eight years on the membership and when he left was changed for a season by Emiliano Viviano, who by no means performed a aggressive match. Arsenal then went virtually a decade with out an Italian till coach Mikel Arteta signed the Brazil-born Azzurri midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea at 31.
Pierluigi Pardo is a well-recognized voice on Italian TV as the first commentator for Serie A matches on broadcaster DAZN Italy. He has robust roots in English soccer after dwelling in London in his youthful days, the place he developed an affection for Arsenal.
“Italy isn’t historically an incredible land for soccer exports,” he says. “Italians are extra snug at dwelling. When gamers began to maneuver extra freely throughout Europe, Arsenal had been dominant in France, and there was a better Italian reference to Chelsea.”
Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola turned beacons in blue for Arsenal’s London rivals. Collectively, with the craze round Fabrizio Ravanelli at Middlesbrough, they introduced all the glint of established stars once they got here to England in 1996. However Italian gamers within the Premier League have seldom been as dazzling within the twenty years since that era.
It is usually notable that essentially the most profitable and high-profile Italians taking part in in England have tended to not be defenders — possibly shocking contemplating the hallowed standing of the place in Serie A and for the Azzurri.
Andrea Rosati grew up in Parma, northern Italy, and first got here throughout Arsenal when the 2 groups met within the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup closing.
Initially, mere point out of the membership’s identify sickened him after Arsenal did a job on a classy Parma, successful 1-0. However, over time, Rosati grew to admire and adore Arsenal and so they turned his English membership of alternative. “The values of the membership, notably after Arsene Wenger got here, glued to me,” he says.
He’s fascinated by the cultural modifications that see somebody like Calafiori arrive at Arsenal with a cosmopolitan outlook, glorious language expertise, and a capability to adapt that’s fashionable and thrilling.
Calafiori, second-right, subsequent to now-Arsenal team-mate Jorginho at Euro 2024 (Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio through Getty Photos)
“Once I was rising up, Serie A within the mid-Nineties was the driving power of soccer and attracted the most effective gamers on the earth,” he says. “It seemed just like the Premier League is now.
“There was no nice attraction to go away Serie A. Italian gamers weren’t typically keen to go away and there have been sure issues about England that weren’t so inviting. Fairly aside from the bodily repute of the soccer, there was additionally primary stuff just like the climate and meals!
“Then Vialli occurred, and Zola occurred, and that modified the whole picture. The Premier League turned a factor. Sky TV arriving in Italy opened up the window to different international locations and leagues.”
Rosati observes that previously decade, views have been broadening. Language is now not the barrier it as soon as was, as the present era decide up linguistics and concepts over social media. “The world is smaller,” he says. That Calafiori might specific himself in his signing video in fluent English is important.
Benvenuto, Riccardo Calafiori 🇮🇹
Assembly new teammates for the very first time ❤️ pic.twitter.com/JbUhqOBCMN
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 29, 2024
As an Arsenal fan, Rosati is thrilled by Calafiori’s signing. “It’s beautiful,” he says. “He’s flying, and was notably eager to decide on Arsenal. He is a good match with what Arteta represents and needs. What impresses most might be his character. When he suffered a foul harm as a youngster, he reacted with such braveness to come back again and to observe the trail, in shifting overseas, that will finest assist his soccer.”
That harm, and his selections afterwards, made an enormous impression on Pardo. “Going to Basel (Calafiori left Roma to affix the Swiss workforce in 2022) was a courageous, open-minded determination,” he says. “Not many in Italy would have made the identical alternative at 20 years previous. Going to Switzerland, moderately than staying in Italy to attempt to rebuild his profession, challenged him personally and professionally however it was superb for him. It is sort of a pupil happening (European Union trade programme) Erasmus, experiencing a special nation and totally different habits. It’s a signal of his persona.
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“Since then, Calafiori confirmed unimaginable progress in Bologna after which confirmed his high quality with the nationwide workforce through the Euros. He’s within the custom of nice Italian defenders. Even aesthetically, he reminds us of Paolo Maldini or Fabio Cannavaro when he had hair. He has technical high quality, bodily power, and consistency. Probably, he’s nice.”
Calafiori helped Bologna attain the Champions League final season (Picture Picture Company/Getty Photos)
The nation’s official department of the Arsenal supporters’ membership, the Italian Gooners, are thrilled to have one in all their very own to assist. They already had a banner on the Emirates — possibly it will likely be amended with some new visuals, or a hair transplant for adornment. Expectations are excessive.
“I like how he already has a chant to the track, ‘That’s Amore’, which is welcoming him along with his Italian tradition to north London,” says Cico Tagliavini, who lives in Highbury and has household roots in Bologna.
“I’m much more completely happy as a result of he’s coming from Bologna, who propelled his profession in a historic season (they reached the European Cup/Champions League for the primary time since 1964), which is an additional supply of pleasure. He’s going from one of many groups I assist to the opposite one. I’m so excited to see him and he can be doing it on the most important phases of all.”
Because the legendary former Italy centre-back Leonardo Bonucci mentioned, “He’s going to be a reference level for our nationwide workforce for the following 15 years.”
Arsenal can solely hope he achieves one thing comparable for them.
(Prime picture: Nick Potts/PA Photos through Getty Photos)