From career-ending fears to Italy’s golden boy the outstanding rise of Riccardo Calafiori

When Riccardo Calafiori joined Bologna this time final yr, it was to little fanfare. As soon as thought to be certainly one of Italy’s most promising abilities, the Roman returned to his native nation from Basel nonetheless ready to make his breakthrough.

However within the area of the next 12 months, he went from being neglected of Italy’s Below-21 squad to being an Azzurri common at Euro 2024 – after enjoying a vital function in Bologna’s outstanding Champions League qualification. Calafiori’s identify first appeared on the radar of European soccer afficionados again in October 2018, when Roma striker Edin Dzeko devoted a Champions League hat-trick in opposition to Viktoria Plzen to him by holding up the Giallorossi prospect’s shirt to the cameras.

That was as a result of earlier that day, Calafiori had suffered a horrifying knee harm in a UEFA Youth League match that threatened to finish his burgeoning profession earlier than it began.

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An Italian title winner with Roma at youth stage, Calafiori’s expertise was such that super-agent Mino Raiola snapped him up as a shopper earlier than he hit the senior scene. However a rash problem left his knee shattered, with all of the ligaments within the meniscus and capsule of his knee ruptured, and he needed to journey to the USA for surgical procedure. 

“The journey was positively the toughest factor I confronted, I had a knee that was 3 times the scale of the opposite one, I had a fever and I felt insecure,” he later instructed Roma TV. Remarkably, Calafiori bounced again and was named in UEFA’s ’50 for the long run’ listing in 2019 in addition to The Guardian’s ‘Subsequent Technology’ collection of the 60 greatest younger abilities on the planet.

His senior debut for Roma arrived aged 18 in August 2020 underneath Paulo Fonseca, when he gained a penalty and scored a disallowed aim in opposition to Juventus. It was a powerful begin for the younger left-back that urged he may deliver his attacking abilities at youth stage into the primary group in spite of everything. 

Nevertheless, Fonseca’s successor Jose Mourinho quickly deemed the defender surplus to necessities – regardless of posting a video of himself “finding out” the teenager earlier than arriving in Rome – and despatched him on a forgettable mortgage to Genoa.

Calafiori’s seek for recreation time took him to Switzerland subsequent, as he joined Basel in the summertime of 2022. His spell within the Tremendous League was a game-changer.

Not solely did the defender lastly acquire common minutes, making 34 appearances for Basel throughout all competitions, however he confirmed his versatility by shifting inside to play as a centre-back in a three-man defence. It was, seemingly, a simple transition for the teenager.

Standing at 6’2”, he has the scale and physicality to go together with the technical prowess he honed coming by way of the ranks as an attack-minded full-back. One season in Switzerland was all it took earlier than he acquired the decision from again house, with Bologna reaching out to seal a deal for a long-term goal.

“We adopted him all through his time at Basel and he can now play in central defence as properly,” mentioned Bologna sporting director Marco Di Vaio. “I feel he may be the way forward for this membership.”

It was an enormous assertion for a participant who had solely performed one full season of first-team soccer in his profession, however Di Vaio’s intuition was spot on. Below Thiago Motta, Calafiori flourished as a ball-playing centre-back in Bologna’s 4-2-3-1, prepared to hold the ball out of defence and assist in the development of strikes in addition to being the cornerstone of the third-best defence in Serie A final season.

“The whole lot began from the liberty that the coach gave me, Motta instantly noticed me as a centre-back,” Calafiori mentioned. “I realized a lot from him. That is his philosophy, that you will need to assault the area irrespective of who goes, play with out concern and categorical your self.”

It was a outstanding transformation for a lot of Serie A viewers who had solely seen the participant make fleeting appearances in its place or rotation participant earlier than then, nearly all the time at left-back. The boldness of Calafiori – and Bologna as a complete – solely grew because the yr went on, culminating within the defender being named Serie A Participant of the Month in Could because the Rossoblu sealed a top-five end that certified them for his or her first-ever Champions League marketing campaign.

He completed the season with two objectives and 5 assists to his identify in 30 Serie A appearances, incomes a spot within the Crew of the Season and a nomination on the three-man listing for Defender of the Yr. Wild celebrations adopted, as did an sudden smooch reside on air, however issues solely obtained higher from then on.

Calafiori earned his maiden Italy call-up in June and after making his Azzurri debut in opposition to Turkey from the bench and first begin in opposition to Bosnia and Herzegovina in two Euro 2024 warm-up video games, he discovered himself within the beginning XI in a significant match. Calafiori was one of many few Italy gamers to emerge from his nation’s title defence with any credit score.

His performances in defence earned him reward, regardless of scoring an unlucky personal aim within the 1-0 defeat to Spain. He quickly made up for it.

It was the Bologna man’s excellent cost from deep in his personal half to the sting of the Croatian field and lay-off to Mattia Zaccagni that arrange the dramatic late equaliser that ensured the Italians would at the least make the knockout rounds.

Calafiori may solely watch on from the stands as Italy went out with a whimper to Switzerland within the final 16 after he picked up a suspension, however his composed, inventive shows and Paolo Maldini-esque coiffure had already captured the creativeness of viewers throughout the continent. The query now’s – if he can enhance this a lot in a yr, what does the long run maintain for the 22-year-old? 

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