Chelsea ready to rescue grumpy Arsenal star and immediately change his position

A signing Arsenal will make will push a disgruntled Gunner closer to the exit door, and a report now claims London rivals Chelsea are ready to sweep in and immediately change his position.

We’re approaching the business end of the season and Arsenal remain in contention to lift a historic quadruple. The huge sums spent strengthening Mikel Arteta’s squad over the past few years is paying dividends, though perhaps the only drawback of assembling such a deep squad is high calibre stars who’d be starters elsewhere can be marginalised.

One such player is Riccardo Calafiori, who since returning from a muscle injury in late-January, has played second fiddle to Piero Hincapie.

Arsenal’s strongest back four right now comprises Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Hincapie. Barring a surprise, it’ll be the same quartet next year too.

Hincapie is only at the club on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, though it’s been confirmed by numerous sources that the Ecuadorian’s move will be turned permanent to the tune of around £40m at season’s end.

According to the latest from journalist, Si Phillips, Calafiori has grown dissatisfied with losing out to Hincapie of late.

The reporter – who specialises in covering Chelsea – also revealed Liam Rosenior’s Blues are ready to sweep in and bring Calafiori to Stamford Bridge if there’s any hint of an opening.

Phillips claimed the surprise transfer is ‘not as impossible as you might expect it to be’, and pointed to Calafiori as the primary reason why.

It’s claimed the Italy international not only wishes to play regularly, but wants to feature in his natural position of centre-back too.

When Calafiori is given the nod to start by Arteta, he’s generally been deployed at left-back. Calafiori can obviously play that position to a high level, but sees himself as a centre-back in the long-term.

Displacing Gabriel at left centre-back is a near-impossible task right now, and Chelsea’s desire to add a premium centre-back in the summer will enhance the chances of the Blues testing Arsenal’s resolve with a tempting bid.

How much Arsenal would command if they begrudgingly gave the greenlight to a sale wasn’t hinted at in the piece.

But given Calafiori is only 23, contracted to 2029, is now proven in the Premier League, and Arsenal would be selling to a direct rival, you can guarantee they’ll ask for much more than the £42m (add-ons included) they paid Bologna.

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