Arsenal are in advanced talks with Aston Villa to sign Ezri Konsa.
The Gunners’ interest in Konsa has lasted all summer, with Villa initially valuing him at £60m – a valuation Arsenal were unwilling to meet.
The 28-year-old has two years remaining on his contract at Villa.
More to follow.
Friday 21st August 6:30pm
Kick off 8:00pm
Analysis: Konsa is a perfect Arteta player – here’s why
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz:
If there’s one thing you need to know about Mikel Arteta, it’s that he loves players that win duels. Nobody was better at it than Ezri Konsa last season.
The England international won more duels on the ground than any other Premier League player last season – finishing quite some distance ahead of his nearest challengers Virgil van Dijk and Gabriel – who looks set to be his team-mate next season.
Ezri Konsa had the best ground duel success rate out of any Premier League defender last season
Arsenal are in need of defensive reinforcement this summer with both William Saliba and Jurrien Timber both out injured, so need a player who can cover both right-back and centre-back roles.
The Gunners do have Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White as cover in those roles – and both performed well in the Community Shield win over Man City – but the latter has a difficult injury record over the last two seasons.
Arsenal also saw the importance of having good depth at right-back when Mosquera was forced to start the Champions League final with PSG out of position – which then resulted in the young Spaniard conceding a penalty.
Should a move for Konsa be completed, Arsenal have filled an important part of their team – and would be very close to completing their transfer window from an incomings point of view.
Can they find the forward player they have been looking the whole window for?
