Mikel Arteta breaks silence on Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori transfer after 'delay'

Despite interest from Juventus, Calafiori is understood to have given the green light to a move to the Emirates Stadium, and Arsenal have reached an agreement on a €45m (£37.9m) deal with Bologna.

The transaction will see Arsenal pay an upfront fee of €40m (£33.6m) for the Italy international with a further €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons, although it has been reported that the transfer has been held up by two sell-on clause disputes.

Firstly, Bologna and Basel - who sold Calafiori to the Italian side last year - engaged in a dispute over a clause which would see the Swiss team pocket 50% of any future transfer fee, meaning that they would be owed €22.5m (£19m).

On Monday, reports emerged that Roma - whom Calafiori represented at youth level before leaving in 2022 - also believed that they were owed around €8m (£6.7m) from Basel as part of the transaction, having also shaken hands on a 40% sell-on clause with their Swiss counterparts in 2022.

Arteta implores fans to 'fall in love' with Arsenal players

However, such quarrels now appear to have been resolved, as Fabrizio Romano has reported that Arsenal and Bologna are now exchanging documents and preparing the relevant contracts for Calafiori.

After touching down in the USA for Arsenal's pre-season tour, Arteta was unsurprisingly quizzed on the Gunners' pursuit of the 22-year-old, but he conceded that there was "unfortunately" nothing to report just yet.

When asked if there was an update on the deal, as quoted by the official Arsenal website, the Spaniard replied: "No unfortunately not but obviously we know there are certain positions that we want to improve and give the squad better resources in terms of numbers where we are short. We will try our best but the main thing is to focus on falling in love with the players we have and make them better."

So far this summer, Arsenal have only brought a trio of goalkeepers to the club, firstly triggering their option to sign David Raya on a permanent deal from Brentford for around £27m.

The Gunners have also added Tommy Setford and Lucas Nygaard to their academy ranks, and both youngsters boarded the plane for Arsenal's USA tour alongside 24 other players.

Arsenal are also thought to be pushing for a new midfielder and winger before the new season kicks off, but they have seemingly cooled their interest in signing a new striker thanks to Kai Havertz's success last season.

Asked whether any new players could join up with the team in the USA, Arteta replied: "I don't know. There's still a lot to go in the window. Edu, the board and everyone at the club are working hard."

Who will Arsenal face in their USA tour?

Following a 2-0 success over Leyton Orient in a behind-closed-doors friendly, Arsenal begin their pre-season tour of the USA against Bournemouth on Wednesday, with the match kicking off at 3.30am BST on Thursday morning.

Arteta's men then face to Los Angeles to face Manchester United at 1am UK time on July 27, before concluding their transatlantic stint against Liverpool in Philadelphia at 12.30am BST on July 31.

The Gunners' will then play two friendlies at the Emirates, firstly welcoming Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on August 7, four days before hosting Lyon in the Emirates Cup.