San Daniele del Friuli was an atmospheric neighbourhood trattoria in Highbury that was once a regular destination for Arsenal’s players and management. It was located a five-minute stroll from the stadium’s marbled entrance.

On Champions League nights, it stayed open late and diners would clap warmly as manager Arsene Wenger came in for a bite to eat with vice-chairman David Dein. Players Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Freddie Ljungberg et al often arrived, showered and changed, to unwind with friends after the game. The owners, a pair of brothers who supported Udinese and Arsenal, treated everyone like family.

For a long time, that was about as strong a connection as could be found between Arsenal and Italy.

The signing of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a move worth up to £42million ($54m) feels momentous for those of an Italo-Arsenal persuasion. It is the first time the club have signed an Italian with star quality, a player in that country’s best traditions of ‘calcio’ who has his best years ahead of him.

It is perhaps peculiar that so few Italian players of note have made their way to Arsenal.

Italy might not be an exporter of footballers to match France and more recently Spain, which have been dominant forces across the continent since the major leagues began to cross-fertilise their talent in the 1990s. But it is still quite high in the list of nations other than England represented in the Premier League since its inception.

The Italian community in London has thrived since the 1800s, with the northern boroughs of Islington — the club’s heartland — and neighbouring Camden among the most populous areas for Italians who settled here.

Maybe it had something to do with never having an Italian manager, or maybe it’s just a curious quirk, but Arsenal have rarely gone down that footballing path.

Niccolo Galli was the first Italian to join Arsenal. A talented defender, he moved to Arsenal’s academy in 1999 and was part of the group that won the FA Youth Cup a year later. He was extremely highly regarded but, at a time when it was still relatively novel to move abroad as a teenager, returned to Italy for a loan period to continue his studies and football development. Tragically, he was killed in a moped accident on his way home from training aged 17.

Galli was Arsenal’s first Italian player (John Walton/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Arturo Lupoli arrived in 2004 and fitted the mould for ‘project youth’ — a period when Arsenal intentionally headhunted young players with high potential to help the club cope with cost-saving measures as they paid for the building of the Emirates stadium.

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Lupoli: ‘I was at Arsenal in maybe the best years of their history – it was a great time’

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Cesc Fabregas was the pick of a bunch that included Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Carlos Vela and Philippe Senderos — teenagers who were coveted by scouts across the world as best-of-a-generation prospects. Lupoli was a talented forward who had broken scoring records as an under-17. But it never quite happened for him.

Then came Vito Mannone, a goalkeeper who was mostly a reserve during his Arsenal years. He spent eight years at the club and when he left was replaced for a season by Emiliano Viviano, who never played a competitive match. Arsenal then went almost a decade without an Italian until coach Mikel Arteta signed the Brazil-born Azzurri midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea at 31.

Pierluigi Pardo is a familiar voice on Italian TV as the primary commentator for Serie A matches on broadcaster DAZN Italy. He has strong roots in English football after living in London in his younger days, where he developed an affection for Arsenal.

“Italy is not traditionally a great land for football exports,” he says. “Italians are more comfortable at home. When players started to move more freely across Europe, Arsenal were dominant in France, and there was a greater Italian connection with Chelsea.”

Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola became beacons in blue for Arsenal’s London rivals. Together, with the craze around Fabrizio Ravanelli at Middlesbrough, they brought all the sparkle of established stars when they came to England in 1996. But Italian players in the Premier League have seldom been as dazzling in the two decades since that generation.

It is also notable that the most successful and high-profile Italians playing in England have tended not to be defenders — maybe surprising considering the hallowed status of the position in Serie A and for the Azzurri.

Andrea Rosati grew up in Parma, northern Italy, and first came across Arsenal when the two teams met in the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup final.

Initially, mere mention of the club’s name sickened him after Arsenal did a job on a stylish Parma, winning 1-0. But, over time, Rosati grew to admire and adore Arsenal and they became his English club of choice. “The values of the club, particularly after Arsene Wenger came, glued to me,” he says.

He is fascinated by the cultural changes that see someone like Calafiori arrive at Arsenal with a worldly outlook, excellent language skills, and a capacity to adapt that is modern and exciting.

Calafiori, second-right, next to now-Arsenal team-mate Jorginho at Euro 2024 (Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

“When I was growing up, Serie A in the mid-1990s was the driving force of football and attracted the best players in the world,” he says. “It looked like the Premier League is now.

“There was no great appeal to leave Serie A. Italian players were not generally willing to leave and there were certain things about England that were not so inviting. Quite apart from the physical reputation of the football, there was also basic stuff like the weather and food!

“Then Vialli happened, and Zola happened, and that changed the entire image. The Premier League became a thing. Sky TV arriving in Italy opened up the window to other countries and leagues.”

Rosati observes that in the past decade, perspectives have been broadening. Language is no longer the barrier it once was, as the current generation pick up linguistics and ideas over social media. “The world is smaller,” he says. That Calafiori could express himself in his signing video in fluent English is significant.

Benvenuto, Riccardo Calafiori 🇮🇹

Meeting new teammates for the very first time ❤️ pic.twitter.com/JbUhqOBCMN

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— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 29, 2024

As an Arsenal fan, Rosati is thrilled by Calafiori’s signing. “It is stunning,” he says. “He is flying, and was particularly keen to choose Arsenal. He is a great match with what Arteta represents and wants. What impresses most is probably his character. When he suffered a bad injury as a teenager, he reacted with such courage to come back and to follow the path, in moving abroad, that would best help his football.”

That injury, and his choices afterwards, made a big impression on Pardo. “Going to Basel (Calafiori left Roma to join the Swiss team in 2022) was a brave, open-minded decision,” he says. “Not many in Italy would have made the same choice at 20 years old. Going to Switzerland, rather than staying in Italy to try to rebuild his career, challenged him personally and professionally but it was very good for him. It is like a student going on (European Union exchange programme) Erasmus, experiencing a different country and different habits. It is a sign of his personality.

GO DEEPER

Riccardo Calafiori, Arsenal’s new defender who got lifts from De Rossi and models his game on Stones

“Since then, Calafiori showed incredible growth in Bologna and then confirmed his quality with the national team during the Euros. He is in the tradition of great Italian defenders. Even aesthetically, he reminds us of Paolo Maldini or Fabio Cannavaro when he had hair. He has technical quality, physical strength, and consistency. Potentially, he is great.”

Calafiori helped Bologna reach the Champions League last season (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)

The country’s official branch of the Arsenal supporters’ club, the Italian Gooners, are thrilled to have one of their own to support. They already had a banner at the Emirates — maybe it will be amended with some new visuals, or a hair transplant for decoration. Expectations are high.

“I like how he already has a chant to the song, ‘That’s Amore’, which is welcoming him with his Italian culture to north London,” says Cico Tagliavini, who lives in Highbury and has family roots in Bologna.

“I am even more happy because he is coming from Bologna, who propelled his career in a historic season (they reached the European Cup/Champions League for the first time since 1964), which is an extra source of pride. He is going from one of the teams I support to the other one. I am so excited to see him and he will be doing it on the biggest stages of all.”

As the legendary former Italy centre-back Leonardo Bonucci said, “He’s going to be a reference point for our national team for the next 15 years.”

Arsenal can only hope he achieves something similar for them.

(Top photo: Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve is no stranger to dynasties. From 2011 to 2017, her Minnesota Lynx won four WNBA championships. And during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where Reeve was an assistant, four of her players played key roles for the gold medal squad.

So, it’s probably a pretty comforting — and in a way, a familiar — feeling for Reeve to look down her bench now in France and see four starters for the Las Vegas Aces, the defending two-time WNBA champs.

Sunday night, it was a core from the most dominant WNBA team in recent memory — go figure — that propelled Team USA to an 87-68 win over Germany in the team’s final group stage game.

Through the first 15 minutes, the game was pretty even (Germany even led after the first quarter), but midway through the second quarter — just a minute after Team USA took its first lead of the game with an Alyssa Thomas layup — Reeve re-inserted A’ja Wilson onto the floor, where she joined Aces guards Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. With the Aces core on the floor, Team USA closed out the first half on a 17-7 run.

Again, in the third quarter, midway through, a Plum-Young substitution (with Wilson already on the floor) spelled instant offensive energy for Team USA as the squad — which had allowed Germany to cut its lead to 10 — ended the third quarter on a 20-7 run.

It was a particularly effective night for Young, who finished with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Through the first two games, Young had played a total of just more than 20 minutes and attempted only one shot — a 3-pointer against Japan in the opener. Her success from behind the arc is especially significant for Team USA considering the group has struggled from range through the tournament, excluding Young’s performance against Germany, Team USA shot just 23.6 percent from beyond the arc through the group stage games.

Geno Auriemma, head coach of the 2016 team that featured four Lynx players, knows the benefits of the chemistry Team USA is currently enjoying with its Aces.

“Anytime you have a group of players who have played together and won together and have great chemistry it’s invaluable to a coach and as to a team that doesn’t have much practice time to prepare,” he said. “As individuals Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen were just incredible to be with.”

Team USA finished group play with a 3-0 record. With Australia spoiling the host nation’s hopes for an undefeated run, the U.S. will enter knockout play as the No. 1 seed. Team USA’s quarterfinal game is Wednesday, continuing their quest for an eighth straight Olympic gold medal dating back to the Barcelona 1992 Games.

Required reading

(Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant / Getty Images)

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — The “Lille Olympics” are over for Team USA and went mostly according to plan.

A few defensive hiccups here, a minor injury there, oh, and a bus ride or two because someone lit the train track on fire last weekend, disrupting team plans for trains between Paris and Lille, which is on the Belgian border.

But otherwise, the American team of stars is exactly where it planned to be as the tournament shifts to Paris for the knockout rounds, with full steam ahead toward a fifth consecutive gold medal.

Team USA beat Puerto Rico 104-83 behind 26 points from Anthony Edwards on Saturday to finish 3-0 in pool play and as the No. 1 overall seed for the Olympic quarterfinals.

The U.S. emerged from pool play No. 1 overall due to a 64-plus point differential over the three games and will play Brazil in an Olympic quarterfinal Tuesday at Accor Arena — where the NBA typically plays when it has games in Paris.

“I mean, number one, it’s been really fun to be in Lille — it’s a beautiful place,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said. “I think we got done what we wanted to accomplish, winning all three games and securing the top seed. We know we have to play better. Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go, of course. And our goal is just to try to get better each game and we’ll have tomorrow off and then a one-week sprint, three games. So we’ll see how we do.”

Brazil went 1-2, losing by double digits to both France and Germany but connecting on 17 3s in an 18-point win over Japan to advance to the quarterfinals. The Germans and Canadians also went 3-0 in pool play and Germany is ranked second behind the U.S.

“We’ve seen almost everybody. We haven’t seen Brazil though,” Kerr said. “Brazil is our focus.”

The first portion of the men’s and women’s tournaments were moved to an outdoor soccer stadium with a retractable roof, just outside of Lille, primarily so gymnastics could take place in Accor Arena. The U.S. stayed and practiced in Paris but traveled to Lille the night before each of the three games, which also included comfortable wins over Serbia and South Sudan.

Edwards, Team USA’s youngest player at age 22, came off the bench to shoot 11 of 15 with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. The leading scorer for the Americans last summer at the World Cup, Edwards dazzled with an array of drives to the rim, mid-range jumpers and three 3s. His coolest play was a tap-away steal and windmill slam with about nine minutes left and the Americans up by 25.

Anthony Edwards breaks out the WINDMILL in Paris! 🔥 #ParisOlympics

📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/FdFYNz5eXr

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2024

“I wanted to go between the legs (in the air for a dunk), but I ain’t tried it in a minute so I didn’t want to embarrass myself,” Edwards said. “I want to dunk on somebody, but I ain’t got a lane yet. I’m glad I got that one.”

LeBron James, as usual for this tournament, handed in a complete performance with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds in just 18 minutes. Kevin Durant scored 11 points and still needs four more to become USA Basketball’s all-time leading scorer at the Olympics for both the men’s and women’s programs, ahead of Lisa Leslie (488 career points).

Edwards’ domination in the second half (he scored 14 points from late in the third to the middle of the fourth quarter, with Durant on the court) had something to do with Durant falling just short of passing Leslie.

Joel Embiid returned to the U.S. starting lineup after sitting out against South Sudan. He scored 15 points with three boards in nearly 23 minutes. In a confounding twist, the French crowd continued to boo him each time he touched the ball, but the crowd at large erupted in applause when he scored or blocked a shot. There were American fans in the building, sure, but the applause was so loud, that at least some of the people booing him for picking Team USA over France for the Olympics also had to be cheering when he scored.

“I think that’s all you can do is laugh about it and he’s done a good job just making light of it,” Kerr said. “And his teammates, obviously, have his back, but it’s all part of it. I’m sure he knew this was coming and what I liked is that after the French fans would boo, you could hear the American fans cheer and so everybody seems to be having some fun with it.”

With the U.S. ahead by an insurmountable number and the clock winding down, Embiid held the ball to run out the clock and was hit with another chorus of boos. He stuck his hand to his ear, as though he wanted the boos to grow louder. Over the last two games, Embiid’s U.S. teammates have joined him in taunting the crowd in response to the boos.

“I love it,” Edwards said. “I don’t get what’s going on, so I’m all for it.”

Jrue Holiday did not play due to an ankle injury suffered in Wednesday’s win; Kerr said Holiday will play against Brazil and could have participated Saturday. Jayson Tatum started for Holiday and finished with 10 points.

Jose Alvarado of the New Orleans Pelicans, the only NBA player on the Puerto Rican roster, led his team with 18 points. The Puerto Ricans outrebounded Team USA, 51-48, despite a distinct size and skill disadvantage in the post. By American standards, the 11 turnovers the U.S. committed weren’t bad, but giving up 18 offensive rebounds to Puerto Rico is something to clean up before Tuesday.

Nearly 20 years ago to the day (12 days shy of the anniversary, if we’re counting), Puerto Rico opened the 2004 Olympics by pulling one of the largest international upsets in history, defeating the Americans by 19 points. It was the first loss by a Team USA squad with NBA players.

And for about 17 minutes in the first half, a hint of possibility that another huge upset wafted in the air. Alvarado scored nine points in the first quarter and the Puerto Ricans led by as many as eight. It was a 46-43 game with 3:15 left before halftime when James threw a dazzling behind-the-back pass to Embiid for a layup. That play sparked an 18-2 run to close the half for the Americans, who carried a 64-45 lead into the break.

James, 39, had six points and three assists during the run.

It was ALL Team USA in the first half against Puerto Rico. 💪 #ParisOlympics

📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/E2IOR4x55x

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— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2024

“I think we’re in a good place,” James said. “We can always get off to a better start to start games, but teams are very excited to go against us and it’s not a feel-out, but we could do a better job starting the games. Giving up (29) in the first quarter today, we didn’t like that and we got better from that moment on though.”

While Durant is looking for what would be an Olympic record four gold medals in men’s basketball, James can get his third gold with three more wins. He was on the team that lost to Puerto Rico 20 years ago, co-captained the Redeem Team four years later with Kobe Bryant and was part of the 2012 team that dominated in London.

This summer, counting five exhibition games and three Olympic contests, James leads the team in scoring and assists.

“Maybe one of the best things about this trip for me has been to see LeBron behind the scenes, see the preparation, see the focus and getting a picture for why he is who he is,” Kerr said. “It’s just amazing to watch him. He loves the game so much. He loves the work, he loves his teammates. There’s an energy and a joy to LeBron that just, it sort of spreads through the locker room.”

Required reading

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)