Riccardo Calafiori’s potential destinations – ranked

When you type ‘aura’ into X/Twitter, chances are you’ll be bombarded with tweets about Italy’s new centre-back star Riccardo Calafiori.

And while a lot of tweets are about how he looks like an amalgamation of Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and 2002 Fabio Cannavaro (when he had long hair), a lot are also about how brilliant his performances at Euro 2024 have been.

Put simply, the 22-year-old has been brilliant so far – unfortunate own goal against Spain and side – and his displays have understandably seen him linked with a raft of Europe’s top clubs.

Current employers Bologna know all about his talents after stunningly qualifying for next season’s Champions League, but there’s now a huge question over whether Calafiori will actually be there to take part.

Here’s an assessment of his options and where the best landing spot would be.

Leaving a club destined for Champions League football in 2024/25 for a club that isn’t doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Calafiori at this stage in his career.

Sure, Ange Postecoglou has got Tottenham playing some pretty tasty stuff, and they are undoubtedly a bigger club with bigger resources, bigger ability to draw and bigger, well, everything. Nevertheless, it would be the wrong step.

Good fit rating: 1/10

As mentioned above, leaving a Champions League club for a club that hasn’t qualified for the competition doesn’t make sense.

Unlike any move to Tottenham though, in this instance at least Calafiori would be joining a team with a winning pedigree and a future route to challenging for the Premier League title.

That said, Chelsea don’t seem to have any clue about what they are doing in the transfer market – planting many, many red flags for Calafiori.

Good fit rating: 3/10

The first Champions League club on this list.

Thanks to their stunning form under Mikel Arteta in recent seasons, Arsenal are one of the most enticing clubs in Europe right now.

While joining the Gunners would, on the surface, be a great move for Calafiori, Gabriel having the left centre-back role firmly sewed up may make first-team football slightly difficult to come by.

Is there any point risking being a rotation option? Doubtful.

Good fit rating: 4/10

Manchester United are another non-Champions…