‘Roma didn’t believe in Calafiori after horrific injury’ | OneFootball

An article from Corriere dello Sport blames Roma for ‘not believing’ in Riccardo Calafiori after the Italian defender suffered a horrific knee injury in 2018.

Calafiori is on the verge of joining Arsenal from Bologna in a €45m deal, but his hefty price tag and impressive performances for Bologna and Italy national team are leaving the defender’s ex-club Roma full of regrets.

This had already emerged in January when it was pretty evident that Calafiori’s value was higher than the €4m Bologna paid to sign him from Basel in 2023.

Calafiori had joined the Swiss club a year earlier from Roma for even less than that, circa €2m.

“Little money for a player regarded as one of the best products of the Roma academy. Bruno Conti spotted him when he was nine, and he was playing for Petriana,” journalist Guido D’Ubaldo wrote in Tuesday’s printed edition of Il Corriere dello Sport on page 18.

‘Roma didn’t believe in Calafiori after horrific injury’

“Roma didn’t believe in him after a horrific knee injury. In 2018, Riccardo risked quitting football. Well-known orthopaedists said there was little to hope for a star career. The poor Mino Raiola convinced his client to undergo surgery in the United States.”

The late Italian agent Raiola was Calafiori’s first agent and convinced the defender to have knee surgery in the USA like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. During a press conference in June attended by Football Italia, Calafiori said Raiola was “fundamental” to helping him recover.

“When Calafiori returned to the pitch, not even a promising debut under Fonseca convinced Roma to change their mind,” continued D’Ubaldo.

“Mourinho didn’t see him much, and after a loan spell at Genoa, Thiago Pinto sold him to Basel on a permanent transfer. Roma didn’t want to gamble on his recovery, and now Calafiori is an international star.

“Riccardo was one of the few positive news from the disastrous Azzurri Euros,” the journalist added.

“At 22, he is a fit player regardless of who thought he was finished. Daniele De Rossi had seen him play as a kid and gifted him his shirt after the terrible injury. Many would have given up. On the contrary, Riccardo always believed he could make it, supported by his family. De Rossi regrets not coaching him after being among the first to see his talent. Roma missed a big chance and Bologna took it.”