Arsenal’s lucrative pre-season plan can fund transfer for top target Riccardo Calafiori

Arsenal’s transfer for Italian star Riccardo Calafiori could potentially be funded by their fans after the club announced a lucrative pre-season tour pass.

It is believed that the Gunners are finalising a £42.1 million deal for the Bologna defender after making a breakthrough over a payment structure, with personal terms not expected to be an issue. Calafiori caught the eye with a series of fine performances in Serie A last season and gained plaudits for his displays at Euro 2024.

However, despite the club pulling in funds through possible sales, there is a scenario where Arsenal raise money for the 22-year-old via their fans, thanks to a new pre-season pass. To do so though, just over two million fans would have to opt to buy the brand-new pass, which will give supporters access to Arsenal’s pre-season fixtures.

The club’s ‘Early Bird Pre-Season Pass’ is now available for £9.99 and will include live coverage of pre-season fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon. Somewhat controversially, Arsenal has also revealed that some games, including their friendly against Bournemouth on July 25, will not be covered by the pre-season pass and will be available separately for £4.99.

So, could the club really buy Calafiori purely from millions of fans signing up to the pass? Let’s do the numbers.

The logic states that if a whopping 2,105,000 Gunners signed up for the £9.99 pass, and then bought the Bournemouth fixture for just under £5, then that’s each supporter sending the club just under £20 each. Therefore Arsenal could generate somewhere very close to the £42.1 million to buy Calafiori without the club ever having to dip into their transfer warchest.

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With the initial stumbling block for the deal being Bologna insisting on the £40+ million sum, it’s perhaps fortuitous timing that the club have launched the pass. However, Whether supporters would entertain the idea of Arsenal buying the promising centre back with money directly from fans’ pockets is up for debate.

The news that the club will be charging fans for pre-season matches has not gone down entirely well with some of the Arsenal faithful with many taking to social media to voice their annoyance at being charged to watch friendlies.

One poster on X simply said: “Not paying for pre-season games,” while another added: “Haha £10. Do one”. A third said: “Why is the Bournemouth game separate, why not add that into the deal?” And a fourth queried: “I gave you £1,100 for a season ticket last month and you still want me to pay to watch pre-season games kicking off at 1am?”

Regardless of how Calafiori’s move to the Emirates Stadium comes about it looks like the transfer is now inevitable. Speaking to Sky Sport, Italian legend Leonardo Bonucci seemingly let slip Calafiori’s next team after revealing he was saddened by the young international’s switch to the Premier League and claiming he wanted to see him at Juventus.

The recently-retired player said: “I’m sorry about his transfer, I would have liked to see him at Juventus,” he said. “He’s a defender who’s a little different to what we’re used to seeing. He plays, has personality and fits in. We’re ‘exporting’ a great player who will be a point of reference for the national team for the next 15 years.”