Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori has admitted that Mikel Arteta’s demanding ways can sometimes frustrate him, but acknowledged that his manager is always right.
Calafiori has been so good for Arsenal this season, but the familiar issue of his availability has reared its head.
Aside from injury, Arsenal haven’t seen a lot of the Italian in recent weeks due to Arteta’s selection call favouring Piero Hincapie at left-back.
Who is Arsenal’s best left-back: RICCARDO CALAFIORI or PIERO HINCAPIE?
It gives Calafiori more to work on behind the scenes to impress the Arsenal manager, something that seems to be incredibly difficult, based on the defender’s experience of working with Arteta.
In an interview with Italian outlet SUPERNOVA, Calafiori shared a glimpse of just how demanding the boss is.
Riccardo Calafiori expresses how difficult Mikel Arteta’s demands are at Arsenal
Calafiori once said it’s crazy how committed Arteta is to getting the best out of his Arsenal squad.
While the 23-year-old appreciates his manager, he has since admitted that sometimes he wants to ‘hate’ Arteta because of the demands he has for him.
“He’s very, especially with me, and I don’t know why, he’s very demanding. Absolutely. I might finish a match where I know I played brilliantly, and I’m like ‘thank god’, but then he comes in and…”
The host then interrupted to ask, “He tears into you because he wants?”
Calafiori responded, “Yeah, down to the smallest details.”
The 2024 signing then made it clear that Arteta is ‘definitely right’ on every occasion that he pulls Calafiori up to improve.
“I can say that in the end, he is definitely right. I have improved between now and last year. Sometimes you want to hate him, he tells you things you don’t want to hear, but it’s the truth.”
Calafiori’s revelation isn’t a huge surprise, given what we all saw on Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing documentary during the 2021/22 season.
How do you think you would cope being managed by Mikel Arteta? 😅
The stakes are even higher now, and funnily enough, the Italian isn’t the only one to have spoken about Arteta’s incredibly high demands.
Earlier this season, Bukayo Saka admitted that while he’s grateful for Arteta’s demanding ways, there are some days that are tougher than others to hear what the boss has to say.
“I think sometimes there’ll be days where you don’t like it, but you know, you’ll look back at it and be grateful because you need it,” Saka said.
Both players have come on leaps and bounds under Arteta, as have Arsenal as a collective, so his meticulous work behind the scenes is clearly worthwhile.
It seems like a tough job for the players, but one that every member of the squad will relish with silverware in touching distance.
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