Calafiori to reject Chelsea?

 By Danong and 1970s Gooner 

According to Fabrizio Romano, it seems that Arsenal and Chelsea are currently the only clubs in discussions to acquire Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna.

But have Juventus really cooled their interest or is there a game being played here by his agent and/or his current employer, Bologna, to spike the price up that Juventous will eventually have to pay.

There are some similarities here with the Vlahovic case where Arsenal, if you remember, were led to believe that the

player was available but of course he ended up at Juventous where he wanted to go to in the first place!

In any case the Bologna defender, who is reportedly interested in moving to the Emirates Stadium if Arsenal can reach an agreement with his club, has according to some press outlets received a long-term offer from the Gunners.

However, Arsenal might have to deal with competition from Chelsea, which is also interested in the player as they tend to follow what Arsenal aim for in the transfer windows (remember the Mudryk transfer saga).

What if Chelsea also ends up making a tempting offer to the Italian? And what if they "confuse" him with a tempting wage package that he won't be able to turn down?

If this ends up a straight fight with Chelsea, Arsenal have two very strong cards to convince the 22-year-old to join them.

Firstly playing for Arsenal he will be competing in probably the best and most high profile league in the world. And fighting neck and neck against Man City directly for the league title.

Secondly, next season, playing for Arsenal will present Calafiori the opportunity to compete in the prestigious Champions League and have a realistic chance to go deep in the competition and possibly win it.

He will of course play in the CL with Bologna if he decides to stay but it's debatable if they manage to go deep in the competition.

Chelsea will not have Champions League football on offer and there's no guarantee they'll be in the Premier League title race. In fact they are more likely to be competing for a top four place!

If Riccardo Calafiori is ambitious, he's definitely not going to settle for a club playing in the Conference League.

For him, there's only one destination—Arsenal.