On Riccardo Calafiori’s arm there’s a tattoo featuring the words “never give up”.
For the 22-year-old Arsenal and Italy defender it is a reminder of just how close he came to his dreams of a career in football being ended before it had really started.
At the age of 16, Calafiori suffered a serious knee injury while playing in a Uefa Youth League match for AS Roma, rupturing all of the ligaments in one of his knees.
It was so bad he feared he even might struggle to walk, let alone kick a ball again.
“This was my first tattoo and it was for this reason,” he said.
