Arsenal star Riccardo Calafiori suffers a freak injury during the match against Italy and is a cause for major concern ahead of the north London derby
Arsenal star Riccardo Calafiori was forced off through injury during Italy's clash with France on Friday night.
The defender suffered the injury in a completely bizarre manner when Ousmane Dembélé landed on his ankle after being tackled himself.
The immediate concern of his Italian teammates was such that they asked for the physiotherapist to come onto the field.
The medical staff were not at risk when they were substituted and the Italians then led 3-1.
Calafiori was signed for £33.7m from Bologna this summer.
The news will be worrying for Arsenal ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham immediately after the international break.
Declan Rice already missed the game through suspension after being… sent off against Brightonwhile Mikel Merino is also out due to a injury suffered in his first training session with the Gunners.
“He had a collision and unfortunately has a shoulder injury,” manager Mikel Arteta said. “It looks like he will be out for a few weeks.”
“First session. He was very excited and everything seemed to be going well. He fell to the ground and Gabi (Magalhaes) fell on top of him and it seems he probably has a small fracture.”
Jurrien Timber also raised injury concerns after being forced off against Brighton.
However, Arteta seemed less concerned about the problems facing the defender.
“No, I think I had cramp,” the Arsenal man told reporters after the meeting with the Brighton boss.
“He got kicked in the first half and was cramping, so we had to take him off.”
Arsenal will face Tottenham on September 15 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Arteta will hope to have a new face in his squad for that trip to Spurs.
He will spend the international break trying to get Raheem Sterling fit to ensure he can make his club debut at Spurs.
Sterling sealed a dramatic season-long loan deal with the Gunners on the final matchday after being left out by new Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca.
The 29-year-old worked under Arteta at Manchester City and scored 10 goals last season for the Blues, but has not played any football since pre-season after being controversially left out of Chelsea's squad for their first game of the season with City two weeks ago.
“We have to see him, talk to him about what he's been doing and how he feels about it,” Arteta said.
“We will try to look for quick wins so that he gets up to speed as soon as possible and understands what we are looking for from him in the team dynamic.
“We'll use that time to do that and get him involved as soon as possible.”
Arteta faces a midfield dilemma for the clash with Rice and Merino out, and that means the Gunners boss will either have to drop captain Martin Odegaard alongside Thomas Partey or bring in Jorginho.
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And he added: “Well, this is what happens. We have to adapt to this context.”
“That's why we have other players who can fill that role and I can give that opportunity to someone else.”
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