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Arsenal get vital Riccardo Calafiori transfer boost as £101m preference clear amid genius Edu move

Italy and Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori
-Credit: (Image: Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images)


The start of July has brought a flurry of activity for Arsenal, although none of it was massively unexpected. The end of June, and the start of a new financial year for the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs), has kicked things into gear.

The Gunners are now the permanent owners of David Raya, although official confirmation of this is yet to actually come. His loan with an option to buy has been triggered but no statement has been issued just yet.

Elsewhere and young duo Amario Cozier-Duberry and Reuell Walters have left the club after no contract extension was agreed for the pair. This patch of formal outgoings and incoming is the first of the window so far as major deals are yet to be completed.

Here, football.london takes a look at some of the bits of business that could be still to come.

Calafiori approach

Arsenal have been given encouragement to make an offer for Riccardo Calafiori as a possible move to Juventus continues to stall. The Bologna man has recently emerged as a target for the Gunners.

It is said that bids are now being welcomed with the chance of a fight for the Italian after Chelsea also made their interest known. Juventus are not expected to be able to match the financial might of either Premier League side.

READ MORE: £200m transfer expectations make no sense as Edu critics keep forgetting progress

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The only other thing to note here, though, is that Bologna's technical director, Giovanni Sartori, has opened up on wanting to keep the player. "We took him 12 months ago so we'll see what happens in the market," he said. "But in our heads there is the will to keep him."

football.london says: If there is nothing to stop Arsenal signing Calafiori then it's a deal to get done quickly. It has felt for much of the summer so far that Juventus' groundwork and the links with Thiago Motta would make a transfer tough. If that isn't going to be an obstacle then Arsenal need to get involved.

Bologna are reportedly keen to get bids coming in for Calafiori with a huge fee being sought, but right now the numbers are still pretty small, only around £35million. For that much there is no going wrong.

Able to play centrally or on the left, Calafiori is a great player. He can step into midfield with the ball and is composed without out. Arsenal are certainly looking in the right area.

Osimhen preference

Victor Osimhen is keen to make a move to the Premier League this summer. Fabrizio Romano has reported that the Nigerian is still expected to leave Napoli despite serious interest being at a premium so far.

The Italian side are said to be waiting for clubs to trigger the £101million release clause in his contract. Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have been linked as well as clubs in Saudi Arabia, but it is England that would be Osimhen's personal choice.

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Arsenal have remained in the conversation for Osimhen as they look to sign a new striker. So far, very little has been concrete with Arsenal and the 25-year-old, though, despite some suggestions of a possible £85million cut-price deal being available.

football.london says: Osimhen, regardless of the price, looks like an ideal forward for Arsenal. He is ready-made to score goals and that is just what Mikel Arteta needs. He is the archetypal final piece of the puzzle.

But it's impossible to separate the man from the cost. Anything even close to £100million would be a serious outlay for Edu Gaspar and co to sanction. Given Osimhen's relative struggle last year (he did still score 15 league goals) for form and fitness, it becomes a bit more of a risk. TThis isn't the way Arsenal have operated in recent years, but it'd be mightily fun.

Hutchinson sell-on

Arsenal will bank around £3million from the deal that sees former academy star Omari Hutchinson leave Chelsea to join Ipswich. The move was confirmed on Sunday night by both Premier League sides with an expected cost of nearly £20million.

Having come through he Hale End academy as one of the best, Arsenal didn't manage to Hutchinson 12 months ago but did include a clause to generate some funds from his next sale. It is an approach that Edu was happy to include in subsequent deals for the club, even though the Brazilian was no in position as sporting director at the time of Hutchinson's exit.

football.london says: Be it Edu's making or the entire Arsenal recruitment team, this is smart and useful. Hutchinson is a player with immense potential and not getting anything in return for losing his talent would have been a poor outcome.

Sell-ons don't bring the sort of value that the player is worth but they are a sort of insurance policy. Having helped Hutchinson to develop into the player he is at this stage of his career - and there's still a way to go - it is only fair that Arsenal get rewarded.

Not managing to keep Hutchinson could have been used against Edu. But getting something back for him is a feather in the director's cap.