Arsenal-bound Riccardo Calafiori suffered career-threatening injury and was cast aside by Jose Mourinho before becoming the Italian John Stones
Riccardo Calafiori is a name that rolls off the tongue, and it's one Premier League fans will have to get used to.
This is because the defender is set to join Arsenal after the Gunners and Bologna agreed a fee of £34 million, rising to £38 million for Calafiori.
Once completed, it will mark the end of a remarkable two years for the Italy international, who was thrown out of Roma in the summer of 2022.
Calafiori is now on the way to the top, but there have been plenty of bumps in his career, and he's survived them all.
This mental fortitude will help him when he joins Arsenal, where he will likely form a key part of a team trying to end Manchester City's Premier League dominance.
Calafiori was born in Italy's capital, Rome, and joined Roma's youth academy, progressing through the ranks and helping them win a title at youth level. He was quickly snapped up by former super agent Mino Raiola.
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However, just months after signing his first professional contract, when he was just 16, he suffered a terrible injury that could have ended his career.
Playing in a UEFA Youth League match, Calafiori was on the receiving end of a horrific tackle that destroyed his knee, with all ligaments in his meniscus rupturing.
In the immediate aftermath of that injury, Roma's Edin Dzeko scored three goals against Viktoria Plzen and paid tribute to the young defender during the game because the injury was serious.
It was a traumatic incident, and Calafiori thought everything was over.
He told Roma TV about the injury: "The journey was definitely the hardest thing I faced; I had a knee that was three times the size of the other one, I had a fever, and I felt insecure."
The fact that he can still play football is a minor miracle in itself, but incredibly, that wasn't the end of the setbacks for Calafiori.
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The 22-year-old returned after a long time out and made his first-team debut for Roma in August 2020 against Juventus.
Roma won 3-1, and he played at left wing-back against Federico Bernadeschi before an injury forced him off.
Unfortunately, the following year wasn't the big breakthrough he hoped for due to COVID and several hamstring injuries.
Things went from bad to worse when Jose Mourinho arrived at the Italian giants. Despite posting a video on his Instagram of him watching Calafiori, the Italian was soon cast aside by The Special One.
Again, Calafiori played left-back and started the first three Europa Conference League games of the 2021/22 season, but in the third match, Bodo Glimt destroyed Roma 6-1.
Calafiori played the full 90 minutes, and after that, he played just two more matches before being loaned out to Genoa.
He said: "Mourinho? With him, I started quite well. Then there was the match against Bodo. From there, things went downhill.
"He sent me to the bench and decided to rely on others, but my need and desire were to play."
But the relationship between the two remains good to this day.
"It was his choice, of course, but I'll also tell you something. Mou and I talk; he wrote me several messages, and there's a nice relationship between us."
The loan to Genoa didn't work either, meaning at the end of the season, he faced a big decision and took a huge risk in swapping Serie A for Switzerland and Basel.
It proved to be a life-changing transfer for Calafiori because Heiko Vogel decided to turn the Italian into a centre-back.
The Basel manager spoke to Sky Sports Germany about the position change, saying: "I felt he had a lack of speed as a full-back for reaching the highest level. Playing centre-back, he had more than enough.
"He didn't think about it many seconds: let's work together. I put him from the full-back position into the centre, and he did it well."
Once the change was made, Calafiori played the rest of the season in the centre of defence and earned a move back to Italy to play for Bologna under Thiago Motta.
His time at Bologna has been a success, with Calafiori playing as a centre-back but stepping into midfield to create overloads.
The defender even compared himself to John Stones in a recent interview.
He said: "[John] Stones is my reference.
"His style of play is closest to mine. It's not off the cuff when I go into midfield. It's following the guidelines of the coach."
Throughout the 2023/24 campaign, he impressed with his ability to carry the ball, which we all saw to great effect at Euro 2024 when he glided through the Croatia midfield and laid off a pass for Mattia Zaccagni to bend home and take Italy through to the knockout rounds.
Unfortunately, Calafiori was suspended for the 2-0 defeat to Switzerland, and Gil Azzurri crashed out. His absence proved to be massive.
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Despite being an awful tournament for Italy, Calafiori impressed and has now earned a Premier League move.
Given what he has been through to get to this point, you would expect him to make the most of this opportunity.