Arsenal expert Charles Watts has conceded that Riccardo Calafiori may be "susceptible" to frequent injuries following his latest blow on international duty with Italy.
The Gunners' summer signing suffered an awkward twist and fall during the first leg of the Azzurri's UEFA Nations League quarter-final with Germany and had to withdraw from the squad before the return fixture.
Initial reports from Italy have suggested that Calafiori will be sidelined for around two to three weeks, so while he has seemingly avoided a serious problem, he may miss the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.
Asked by Sports Mole if there was any firm update on Calafiori's latest blow, Watts said: "It's a big setback. In terms of clarification, Arsenal keeping it very close to their chest. They just said they brought him back, they're going to be assessing him. The initial reports came out from Italy saying it wasn't too bad. It was one of those ones when you saw it for the first time, it was impossible not to wince.
"It was so awkward the way he went down. And we know he's had knee issues in the past. It was very similar to the one he did for Arsenal earlier on in the season, the way he slipped and went. He's not had much luck this season when you look at the three big injuries he's had.
"The first one was with Italy when someone slipped behind him and managed to trip him up and hurt his ankle. Then the slip for Arsenal when he did his knee. And now he's basically replicated it again.
"Fingers crossed he's OK. Maybe he'll have a chance for the first leg against Real Madrid. Myles Lewis-Skelly's Arsenal's first choice left back now, but Calafiori is still really, really important. Arteta values those fullbacks so much in how they play.
Calafiori's injury history assessed after latest blow
"I think it's always the case that they'll be the first substitutes off a lot of the time. Get to 60 minutes, swap the full-backs because of the demands that comes with playing that role. Now you've got Ben White back, you can play Timber for 60 minutes, then bring on Ben White. Or you can play Ben White for 60, bring Timber on. And you want to be able to do the same with Calafiori and Lewis-Skelly. So it's important that he gets back fit really, really quickly."
Calafiori's latest knee problem is already the fifth injury he has suffered during his time in North London, and the third specific knee issue he has picked up, concerns that have restricted him to 26 appearances in all competitions.
The 22-year-old's first knee concern came against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in October, which kept him out for five games before he suffered a recurrence against West Ham United in the Premier League a month later.
A calf injury also kept Calafiori out of September's North London derby win over Tottenham Hotspur, and he also missed the return fixture in January with a muscular problem, alongside clashes with Manchester United and Aston Villa.
The Italian only missed two games through injury while representing Bologna, but he missed 124 games for club and country while representing Roma and an additional 15 at Basel, leading Watts to worry whether he has a predisposition to picking up problems.
"They do look really unlucky the way they come around," he added. "But then you're like, why? How do you get two of those really similar injuries? Is there something in his running style that's causing him to slip and twist like that?
Watts: 'Calafiori could be dogged with injury prone tag'
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"He had a really serious knee injury when he was a teenager and there were initial fears he wasn't going to play again. It was such a bad one. I think there is definitely a fear amongst the fanbase of, is this a player that you're constantly worried every two or three weeks he's going to pick something up, and just going to be one of those players who's available some of the time and then not available?
"Arsenal had a few of those in the past. There's definitely a little bit of a fear that could well be Calafiori and he could be dogged with that injury prone tag. It's difficult to get to this stage of the season and not think he's a little bit susceptible to picking things up. We'll have to wait and see if that continues next season. Hopefully it doesn't, but there's definitely that feeling hovering over him."
Calafiori's frequent absences have not proven as damaging to Arsenal as they could have been thanks to Myles Lewis-Skelly's rapid rise to fame this season, and Arsenal also have Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko on the books at left-back.
However, Tierney is confirmed to be moving back to Celtic when his contract expires at the end of the season, while Zinchenko's deal only runs until the summer of 2026, so Arteta's left-back ranks could be thinned significantly by the start of next season.
Furthermore, Takehiro Tomiyasu - coincidentally also signed from Bologna - is unlikely to play again in 2025 due to a serious knee injury, while Ben White is only just back from an operation of his own.
While Watts is not surprised that Arsenal signed Calafiori in spite of his injury history, he has suggested that the Gunners may need to assess previous problems more closely in the future, adding "Arsenal seem to like picking up injury prone left-backs.
Does Calafiori injury expose Arsenal transfer mistakes?
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"It seems to be a bit of a trait. Zinchenko was very much known for that at Manchester City, Arsenal still went out and signed him and he's been injury prone pretty much ever since. Then you replace him with Calafiori, who's very, very similar as well.
"It doesn't overly surprise me. When you look at some of the signings he's made or been in charge when the club have made those signings, I'm not sure past injuries tend to worry him too much. Maybe they should, because the best indicator of future history is past injuries.
"You don't want to be shelling out £30m, £35m on these players and having them available 50, 60% of the time. You want them available 80, 90, 95% of the time, because that's just what is so important. The injury at Roma was when he was very, very young and there were bits and pieces after that, but certainly Bologna, he seemed like he was doing pretty well. Maybe they were looking at that.
"I do also think this season is a weird season. It's a bit of an outlier, especially players who played in the Euros. There's been so many injuries to so many players because they've just not had a break. I do think next season will be very interesting to see the difference with teams who aren't in the Club World Cup.
"Are they going to have much better injury records next season than the teams that have? I would suggest yes. It's going to be really important for these players to have a big, big rest."
As well as the first leg with Real Madrid, Calafiori is also set to be absent for Arsenal's first Premier League game back against Fulham next Tuesday, and the showdown with Everton at Goodison Park four days later.
Ben Knapton
