‘Be careful’… Riccardo Calafiori jokes he sent a warning to ‘very strong’ Arsenal star recently

The Italy international joined the Gunners from Bologna in the summer transfer window. It took a while to get this deal over the line, but Edu Gaspar got the job done in the end.

Calafiori made his first start against Manchester City at the Etihad, and he has been unbelievable since. He has made the left-back position his own and has been tremendous there.

The versatile defender has become good friends with several players at Arsenal too. He has revealed the light-hearted warning he sent to one of them recently.

Riccardo Calafiori shares what he told Leandro Trossard at Arsenal

Calafiori and Leandro Trossard are both away on international duty this week.

The defender has been called up by Italy for their Nations League games, while Trossard got the nod with Belgium after he was dropped in September’s international break.

Both players will be proud to represent their countries and on Thursday, Trossard and Calafiori will go up against each other at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Italy are top of their group having won both their games in the Nations League so far, while Belgium are third after their defeat to France last time out.

Trossard will be hoping to help his side return to winning ways on Thursday night, but Calafiori will not make it easy for him.

The Italian has joked that he has warned Trossard to ‘be careful’ ahead of the game between Italy and Belgium in Rome.

Calafiori told Football Italia: “I told him to be careful.

“Jokes aside, he’s a very strong player and also a great friend, but I’ll try to bring home the three points.”

Arsenal will have Trossard and Calafiori back soon

The international break is always an inconvenience to club sides because their players have to travel a lot and often return late.

That complicates things ahead of the first game following the break. However, thankfully for Arsenal, they have some good news.

Trossard and Calafiori both play on Thursday and then again on Monday. That means they should be back in London on Tuesday, which will give them plenty of time to recover before Saturday’s game.

Arsenal take on Bournemouth in the Premier League after the international break, and that will be a tricky test. Andoni Iraola has done a great job there.

We expect Trossard and Calafiori to both start that game.