Riccardo Calafiori is in line to make his first appearance as an Arsenal player in one of their two friendlies at the Emirates Stadium this week.
The Italy international’s move from Bologna was confirmed last month, with Arsenal beating the likes of Chelsea and Juventus to his signature.
The Gunners have two matches left to play in pre-season before they begin their Premier League campaign, hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 17.
Prior to that fixture with Wolves, they will take on Bayer Leverkusen this Wednesday before Lyon head to north London for the Emirates Cup on Sunday, and it’s expected that Calafiori will take to the pitch in at least one of these friendlies.
Leverkusen’s first-ever visit to the Emirates will see Granit Xhaka make his return to Arsenal. After an up-and-down seven-season stay with the Gunners that eventually saw him become a cult hero, Xhaka departed for Leverkusen last summer, helping them win the Bundesliga during his first season.
Lyon have two ex-Arsenal players in their ranks in Alexandre Lacazette and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. However, the former is likely to miss out on a reunion due to France’s run to the latter stages of the Olympics.
Calafiori looked set to play his first Arsenal minutes in the final game of their USA tour, but he was not used in their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta explained Calafiori had been extremely busy travelling and finalising the details of his transfer prior to that fixture, so the decision was made not to throw him straight into action.
“We had to manage him. He had a very busy 48 hours before his flight,” Arteta said.
“Then it was the jet-lag and he hasn’t trained with the team yet. We want to build him slowly, to get to know him first. We will have plenty of time to see him.”
