Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori has been as good as advertised since joining in summer 2024 after a sensational breakout season with fairytale Serie A side Bologna and the Italian national team at the European Championships, and while he has gotten along perfectly well in North London for the new title favorites, he is still dreaming of a return to the Italian top flight.
As relayed by Italian transfer reporter Gianluca Di Marzio, Calafiori admitted that he feels there is unfinished business at his first club, the historic AS Roma in the capital, as he never got to celebrate with the ultras due to COVID-19, “I want to return to Roma at some point. I can’t predict the future but it’s unfinished business for me. I was 18, it felt like a dream at Roma. But then COVID happened, I couldn’t celebrate with Curva Sud.”
Arsenal fans – nor any fan base – would not want to think about losing a key player already, but in the future once Calafiori has conquered acquiring silverware for the Premier League giants, it would be a beautiful story for him to return to Roma as a seasoned champion to help bring them back to the summit of Serie A.
Jose Mourinho briefly brought Roma to competing for major European silverware, and now Gian Piero Gasperini is fighting to take them back to the Champions League.
Roma, all these years later, are on the up and up and have been doing better since Calafiori was there, making a 10 appearances from 2020 to 2022 as a teenage prospect with a loan to Genoa mixed in.
So even Arsenal fans have to admit they would be in favor of Calafiori making it back to Italy for a triumphant return to Rome – but, of course, only after dominating in England for a few more years.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.