Why Arsenal have moved for Ezri Konsa as £51m transfer announcement imminent | OneFootball

Arsenal are set to bolster their defensive options even further

Mikel Arteta has explained why Arsenal moved to sign Ezri Konsa, with the defender's arrival from Aston Villa close to being made official.

Arsenal agreed a fee of £51million plus add-ons for the 28-year-old and he was at the club's training ground on Thursday to undergo a medical.

Konsa is not expected to be involved in the squad against Coventry in the Premier League opener but his debut could well come against his former club at Villa Park a week later.

There was always a desire to do so this summer, but the long-term injury to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber's continued absence intensified those efforts.

While Arteta stopped short of confirming Konsa will be joining the Gunners, he did emphasise how much the club needed to strengthen in that area of the pitch.

"We are really active in the market, I mentioned that a few days ago," Arteta said at his press conference on Thursday.

"The ambition is to improve the squad. Obviously we have a really specific issue in the back line, especially with the long-term injury with Willy and the fact that we miss one more defender.

"That's clear so we are trying to reinforce that area. Whenever we're ready, we'll announce something.

"We are willing to improve that area and we're going to try our best to achieve that."

Ezri Konsa is finalising his move to Arsenal

London Standard

Before bringing in Konsa, Arsenal were relying on Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera to stay fit and ensure Arteta did not have to get creative at the back.

Konsa offers Premier League experience as well as versatility at full-back and centre-back, adding to the Gunners' formidable defensive options.

Arteta has been keen to avoid a repeat of last season, when he was short at right-back in the closing stages of the season.

Mosquera was primarily used at full-back, while Arteta also at times turned to Declan Rice as an emergency option.

"I would like to have the squad as big as possible because we know what we are fighting for, how long this is," Arteta said.

"I will learn again from the past, especially last year, when we got in some difficulties, especially when we had two or three injuries in the same area of the pitch.

"So the deeper the squad that we have, the better."