Latest on Riccardo Calafiori injury vs Newcastle United | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has admitted he’s not sure on Riccardo Calafiori’s condition after his early substitution through injury during Sunday’s friendly against Newcastle United.

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Arsenal’s 3-2 friendly win over Newcastle United at the weekend was largely positive, with young talent Max Dowman impressing, Kai Havertz showing he’s ready to fight for his place amid Viktor Gyokeres’ arrival, and Martin Zubimendi winning the club’s Player of the Match award on his first start.

The one major blemish was an early second-half substitution, with Riccardo Calafiori only managing three minutes after the break before needing to come off.

Given Calafiori’s injury problems over the last 12 months, there was understandable concern that he’d suffered another setback.

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Speaking afterwards, Mikel Arteta admitted the player had felt something, but they don’t yet know the extent of the problem.

“Yeah, he said that he felt a little tweak, so I don’t know how big it is but hopefully not (big),” Arteta told his press conference.

The player could be seen walking unaided with no obvious limp after the match, and he told one fan he was okay. But he did appear to have some kind of bandage around his left knee.

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Calafiori made 29 appearances for Arsenal in 2024/25, dealing with six separate injury absences.

The Gunners were fortunate to have Myles Lewis-Skelly stepping up at just the right time to fill in, but Calafiori will want to be available a lot more consistently this season if he wants to win a spot in Arteta’s side.

This early injury scare isn’t a great start, but Arsenal will always be somewhat overly cautious during pre-season. Hopefully that’s all this was.