Riccardo Calafiori has emerged as an unlikely goal threat for Arsenal this season, and the Italian defender has now claimed that he is open to playing as a striker if needed.
The Gunners are currently dealing with a shortage of fit strikers, a situation that could persist until the end of the season. This has forced Mikel Arteta to experiment with Mikel Merino in a false nine role, a tactical adjustment that has worked in some matches but has also exposed limitations in Arsenal’s attacking play.
Merino is doing his best to adapt, but as a natural midfielder, he lacks the instinctive movement and finishing ability of a true number nine. Opposition teams have found it relatively easy to neutralise him, which means Arsenal may be forced to try another option in that position before the season concludes.
Calafiori is known for his ability to get forward and contribute goals, which raises an interesting question—could he be the answer to Arsenal’s striker dilemma? While primarily a defender, the Italian has demonstrated a knack for finding the back of the net and could offer a different dynamic in attack.
When directly asked if he would be willing to step up and play as a striker for Arsenal, Calafiori responded, as quoted by Tuttomercatoweb:
“As I have always said and I repeat, I feel I can play any role and obviously I would be ready to play it. Then, honestly, we should talk more about the technical and tactical aspects, it wouldn’t be easy because I’ve never done it in my life.”
While Calafiori has proven he can score crucial goals, stepping into a full-time striker role would be a major shift in responsibility. Playing up front requires a different skill set, including positioning, hold-up play, and finishing under pressure—none of which are typically expected from a defender.
That said, given Arsenal’s current predicament, Arteta may have to consider unconventional solutions. If Calafiori is given the chance, he might be able to contribute goals in a way few would have expected at the start of the season.
ADMIN COMMENT
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One good game against a decent opponent and suddenly Arsenal in line to win the Champions’ League, Ricardo Calafiori is a striker, and Mikel Arteta, with one trophy in five years, and a billion pounds spent, is a genius.
It is natural, maybe, to put the focus on the Champions’ League since Arsenal have already been unceremoniously ousted from both domestic cup competitions, and sit 13 points behind Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title with 11 games to play.
Yes, Arsenal have a chance to win the Champions’ league but to win they will have to beat (most likely opponents) Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Barcelona. This is the team that just lost at home to West Ham. and drew away to Nottingham Forest. Yes, football is unpredictable, but it is that unpredictable?
Arsenal have already tried unconventional solutions to their dearth of a proven #9, with Kai Havertz proving no more than serviceable, despite claims to the contrary, Mikel Merino had a good game and was effervescent over his goals to give the Gunners a win against relegation bound Leicester, and now Calafiori as striker. He could hardly do worse than any of Arsenal’s other options, but that’s not much praise.
Arsenal have ridden their dominating defensive duo, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes to contention three straight years, but its lack of goals that has seen them fall short each time. This is a good Arsenal team, but unlike Liverpool, who when they came close, properly identified their shortcomings and added Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk, Mikel Arteta cannot seem to admit Arsenal need a proven striker and a reliable reserve man at the #9.
He has also refused to accept he needs a central midfielder who can score goals. He keeps buying left backs who are not actually left backs, so the Gunners have 4 players, Miles Lewis Skelly, Kieran Tierny, Oleksander Zinchenko, and the aforementioned Calafiori;
Arteta insists the Gunners are still in the title race. Good for him. Maybe its even true. But Arsenal are closer to being caught by the eight teams directly behind them than they are to catching the one team ahead of them. But by all means, try Calfiori at striker.
Thanks for raising quite interesting and some balanced observations for me. This is quite a fair assessment of situation.
Last night was a brilliant performance for sure ….. and Man U is next. That I’m don’t what to expect from that next encounter with an with our inconsistency just snuffs up the joy my club.
No truer words bro…
Amusing reaction to the article. More power to ya.
Finally someone who calls it as it is.
I prefer calafiori over merino at that striker position because he is a good finisher than every other arsenal players
I AGREE. LET US TRY CALIFIORI AT # 9. HE SEEMS TO BE A BETTER FINISHER. THE RETURN MATCH WITH PSG WILL BE A GOOD TO TRYV THESE EXPERIMENTS!!!
Please refrain from just typing in capital letters
Admin Martin,
Can I just ask have you checked to see if Harrison has a sight problem.
I’m not having a go here, but not long ago I questioned a post on here regarding he gentleman using capitals.
Thankfully he responded that he had a sight problem, which was the reason for his block capitals.
Again Admin Martin, I’m not trying to be funny with this post. 😉👍
I was unaware of that, thank you for informing me, if there is a reason then of course capitals will be fine, hopefully he will communicate with me.
Talking of the now, in the absence of a no.9, why not try him there till the end of the season when a proper no.9 should be brought in and then Calafiori may fill in when called upon.
Calafiori is a better finisher than Merino and should be given that role. Ben White and Kieran Tierney or Timber should play the full backs while Skelley is allowed to rest.
In my view, I think Arsenal will look stronger in attack when BKS and Matinelli return to the folds as Garbi will automatically become a better fit option upfront.
And consequently, football may be very unpredictable against the so called potential oppositions.
Still trust the process anyway.
I think people are not getting the seriousness of Saka injury
It will take time
I want to see such fantastic display against unsung PSV exhibited against either Real Madrid or Atletico in the quarter finals match then, I can admit, Arteta is growing from a position of Baby Coach to Maturity