When Riccardo Calafiori joined Bologna this time last year, it was to little fanfare. Once regarded as one of Italy’s most promising talents, the Roman returned to his native country from Basel still waiting to make his breakthrough.
But in the space of the following 12 months, he went from being left out of Italy’s Under-21 squad to being an Azzurri regular at Euro 2024 - after playing a crucial role in Bologna's remarkable Champions League qualification. Calafiori's name first appeared on the radar of European football afficionados back in October 2018, when Roma striker Edin Dzeko dedicated a Champions League hat-trick against Viktoria Plzen to him by holding up the Giallorossi prospect’s shirt to the cameras.
