Riccardo Calafiori’s journey from serious knee injury to the Premier League

For Calafiori, a sightseeing trip to London in January – which included a visit to the Emirates to watch an Arsenal game – would ultimately set him on the path to joining the Gunners.

“I came as a coincidence to visit the city, I had never been before,” he said.

“Arsenal were playing Crystal Palace, they won 5-0. At that point I wasn’t even thinking about coming to the Premier League.”

Four months later, in May, he spoke to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta about the possibility of joining Arsenal.

“He first wrote to me and then said can I call you,” added Calafiori.

“It was so humble and so easy on the phone. He wanted to explain the situation and what they thought about me, what I could improve.

“He tried to convince me but I was already convinced. Not just because it is Arsenal but because it is Mikel.”

Having broken into the Italy team for the first time earlier this year, Calafiori put all his focus on the European Championship after he was named in their squad for the tournament.

While on international duty he spoke more with Gunners midfielder Jorghino, who helped convince him the transfer to the Emirates was the right one, and he sealed the move on 29 July.

“During my first training session I was thinking ‘is this real?’,” said Calafiori.

“When seeing the Arsenal logo, could I ever think I would be here now…

“It is such an amazing journey.”

Injury on international duty disrupted his start to life at the Gunners but he made his full debut on 22 September against title rivals Manchester City and scored an outrageous strike into the top corner.

“When the ball was played to me, I thought let’s just shoot into what you call ‘top bins’,” he joked.

But although the strike was perfect, he did admit his pointing celebration had no meaning and is “embarrassed” watching it back.

“It was not myself who ran – I was blank,” he laughed. “It was another person!”