What Riccardo Calafiori was doing on the bench after hearing North London Forever anthem played at the Emirates Stadium

09/03/2024 01:15 PM

Riccardo Calafiori hasn’t been at Arsenal long but if he wasn’t a fan favourite already then he will be now after what he was spotted doing.

The Gunners failed to continue their perfect start to the Premier League season as Brighton left the Emirates with a point after Joao Pedro’s second-half strike.

Arsenal did look very impressive and were in control of things until Declan Rice was controversially given a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

Dermot Gallagher believes Rice was right to have been dismissed, whereas we believe that Joel Veltman should’ve been giving his marching orders too.

This completely changed the flow of the game and proved to be the difference.

However, one positive to come out of the game was what Riccardo Calafiori was spotted doing on the substitutes’ bench before he came on.

Riccardo Calafiori spotted singing along to North London Forever during Arsenal vs Brighton

Calafiori joined Arsenal from Bologna in the summer transfer window for £42 million.

The defender has only been utilised off the substitutes’ bench so far with the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jurrien Timber getting the nod.

However, he will have certainly gone up in the views of Arsenal fans as he was spotted during the live TV coverage behind Mikel Arteta mouthing ‘whatever the weather’ during the North London Forever song.

Nowadays with all the money floating around it can sometimes be hard to sign players who join clubs because they whole heartedly want to be there, not just for the money.

But, Calafiori in this instance looks to have already indulged himself into the fan culture at the Emirates, which is great to see.

Why was Calafiori signed by Arsenal?

At just 22, Riccardo Calafiori still has his best years ahead of him.

The Italian caught the eye during the Euros and impressed at Bologna all of last season, where he managed to score two goals and assist five from centre-back, as well as left-back.

He played at centre-back 29 times last season compared to just six times at left-back, which is quite surprising when you see that Arteta has been using him at left-back so far.

Of course, with the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba cementing an unbreakable partnership at the heart of the defence, it was always going to be difficult for him to break in.

Interestingly, there is the potential for Calafiori to fill the Declan Rice void left next time out.