{"id":43413,"date":"2026-02-18T04:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T09:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/arsenal-worried-about-23-year-olds-future-due-to-repeated-injury-problems\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T09:06:23","slug":"arsenal-worried-about-23-year-olds-future-due-to-repeated-injury-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/arsenal-worried-about-23-year-olds-future-due-to-repeated-injury-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal worried about 23-year-old&#8217;s future due to repeated injury problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/arsenal-worried-about-23-year-olds-future-due-to-repeated-injury-problems\/#Calafioli_has_been_important_for_Arsenal_this_season\" >Calafioli has been important for Arsenal this season<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/arsenal-worried-about-23-year-olds-future-due-to-repeated-injury-problems\/#Red_flag_goes_up_on_injury_record\" >Red flag goes up on injury record<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>According to Football Insider, Arsenal could have to make important defensive decisions this summer as doubts grow over Riccardo Calafioli&#8217;s long-term reliability.<br \/><\/strong><br \/>The Italy international has impressed every chance he gets, but his repeated injuries have reportedly led to internal discussions as to whether the club should consider an offer should a suitable offer arrive.<\/p>\n<p>The situation underlines Arsenal&#8217;s ambition under Mikel Arteta to build a squad that can continue to challenge the Premier League, domestic cup competitions and European competitions without suffering from a lack of strength.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Calafioli_has_been_important_for_Arsenal_this_season\"><\/span>Calafioli has been important for Arsenal this season<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Comfortable operating at left-back or as part of a back three, the 23-year-old offers tactical versatility, composure in possession and progressive passing from deep, attributes that are highly valued in Arteta&#8217;s system.<\/p>\n<p>When fit, Calafiori can seamlessly fit into Arsenal&#8217;s defensive framework.<\/p>\n<p>His ability to flip into midfield in the build-up reflects the modern full-back role that Arteta is looking for, and his defensive positioning and foresight strengthen the backline in high-pressing games.<\/p>\n<p>Statistically, he has been a consistent contributor in terms of interceptions and progressive carries, helping Arsenal maintain the lead in matches where territorial dominance is essential.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Red_flag_goes_up_on_injury_record\"><\/span>Red flag goes up on injury record<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Riccardo Calafioli plays for Arsenal (Photo by Alex Pantling\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mick Brown told Football Insider:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Arsenal are evaluating Calafioli.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If the medical team decides he&#8217;s injury-prone and not something he can deal with in terms of playing time, that would be a serious problem.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf that&#8217;s the case, I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if they tried to get rid of him.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Arteta wants to have players who can play every week and he doesn&#8217;t want to gamble on a player&#8217;s fitness because of the competition they&#8217;re playing in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Arsenal want to play in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup every year and to do that we need a squad with a lot of players.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Arteta has repeatedly stressed the importance of depth and reliability, especially with Arsenal competing on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n<p>Managers want to avoid putting too much stress on key players and want reliable options that can maintain performance levels over a long season.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal are not actively trying to get rid of Calafioli, but there is a growing understanding that maintaining balance and durability may require difficult team decisions.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Report: Arsenal lead Tottenham in race to sign German star who could leave Bundesliga <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Football Insider, Arsenal could have to make important defensive decisions this summer as doubts grow over Riccardo Calafioli&#8217;s long-term reliability.The Italy international has impressed every chance he gets, but his repeated injuries have reportedly led to internal discussions as to whether the club should consider an offer should a suitable offer arrive. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-43413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}