Arsenal have agreed a fee of £51million plus add-ons for Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa, with the 28-year-old undergoing a medical at the club's training ground on Thursday.
Konsa is not expected to be involved in the squad against Coventry in the Premier League opener, but his debut could come against his former club at Villa Park a week later.
Arteta explains defensive priority
Mikel Arteta has explained why Arsenal moved to sign Konsa, emphasising the need to strengthen the back line. The club had prioritised bringing in a right-sided defender over the last couple of weeks, with a desire to do so this summer intensified by the long-term injury to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber's continued absence.
"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."
Versatility and squad depth
Before bringing in Konsa, Arsenal were relying on Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera to stay fit to avoid Arteta having 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' defensive options.
Arteta has been keen to avoid a repeat of last season, when he was short at right-back in the closing stages. 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."
