Arsenal key first team defender and Italy star Riccardo Calafiori has suffered a new injury resulting in him leaving international duty immediately. This comes as yet another blow for the Gunners who have been badly hit by injuries this season.
Riccardo Calafiori Injury: Extent Revealed
Calafiori’s Second Knee Injury of the Season
Calafiori slipped and fell awkwardly in stoppage time for Italy in their 2-1 defeat in the Nations League against Germany.
After the game, Italy manager Luciano Spalletti said: “He said that his knee feels strange, but cannot answer more precisely than that, so we’ll have to see,” he said.
There were fears at this time that Calafiori might be out for a lengthy spell. After all, this is the 22-year-old’s second knee injury. He injured his other knee in late 2024 and was sidelined for a month.
Romano Gives Update on Calafiori Injury Severity
Fabrizio Romano said: “Riccardo Calafiori leaves Italy camp with immediate effect after knee injury. Italy staff suggest Calafiori has suffered knee collateral injury between grade one/two but final assessment will be made by Arsenal staff, reports have confirmed.”
A grade one knee ligament injury tends to take a few weeks in terms of recovery, whereas a grade two may take closer to 6 weeks for a full recovery. Of course just how long Calafiori is out for is yet to be confirmed by Arsenal’s medical team but from the initial reports, the injury is not as severe as some Arsenal fans would feared.
Italy put out the following statement on X: “Riccardo Calafiori, who underwent tests late this morning after sustaining an injury to his left knee during yesterday’s match against Germany, has been deemed unavailable for Sunday’s second leg and will return to his club.”
Calafiori was playing at centre-back as part of a three-man defence, so it is likely that Spaletti will choose the left-footed Alessandro Buongiorno to fill the void.
While Calafiori recovers, Arsenal can rely on Myles Lewis-Skelly as well as Oleksandr Zinchenko who made a rare return to first team action recently for the Gunners.
