Arsenal's pursuit of Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa has been driven largely by necessity, with the Premier League champions facing a significant defensive crisis just as the new season approaches.
Mikel Arteta's side won their first league title in 22 years last term, built on a defence marshalled superbly by William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes that conceded just 27 goals across the campaign. However, that partnership will not be available at the start of this season. Saliba is facing an extended absence due to a long-term back problem, an issue he was managing throughout last season that also forced him to withdraw early from France's World Cup campaign. Compounding matters, first-choice right-back Jurrien Timber will also miss the opening weeks with a groin injury that similarly ruled him out of the Netherlands' World Cup squad.
With both men sidelined, Arsenal are left with Ben White—who has battled his own fitness problems in recent years—as their only available right-back, while 21-year-old Cristhian Mosquera stands as the sole right-sided centre-back option alongside Gabriel. Although Arsenal have bolstered their defensive ranks this summer by making Piero Hincapie's loan move permanent, Arteta is reportedly reluctant to pair two left-footed players at centre-back, a scenario that would arise should White pick up an injury and force Mosquera out to right-back. Arteta favours Riccardo Calafiori at left-back for the attacking threat he provides, while Hincapie is also naturally left-sided, leaving a gap on the right side of the defence.
Arsenal's academy does boast highly rated 16-year-old defender Marli Salmon, though he is expected to feature sparingly, primarily in cup competitions, as his development continues. Before turning to Konsa, the club had also explored a move for Bayer Leverkusen's Jarell Quansea, who can operate both at right-back and as a right-sided centre-back.
Konsa, 28 and considered to be at the peak of his career, brings Champions League-level pedigree along with domestic success, having lifted the Europa League with Villa last season. He remains a mainstay for England, starting seven of the nation's eight matches at the World Cup. His statistical output last season underlines why Arsenal moved for him: he posted the best ground duel success rate (73.1%) among Premier League defenders and the best passing accuracy (95%) of any player in the division. He also ranked first among outfield players who contested more than 20 ground duels, and fifth among defenders for progressive ball carries of over five metres. That reliability with the ball carried into the World Cup, where he completed 97% of his passes across seven starts.
Questions remain over how much regular football Konsa will see once Saliba and Gabriel return to full fitness, given Arteta's preferred back four of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori looks difficult to dislodge on paper. Yet Arsenal's grueling 63-game campaign last season—which included a Premier League triumph, a Champions League final, a Carabao Cup final and an FA Cup quarter-final—exposed how vulnerable the squad became to injuries, prompting Arteta to prioritise depth this summer.
Following Arsenal's Champions League final defeat, Arteta stressed the need for his squad to be "very ambitious, very fast, and very smart" in order to build on their title success. The Konsa signing is set to push Arsenal's summer spending beyond £150m, adding to the £250m outlay from last summer, as the club continues to invest in a squad valued at £1.19bn by Transfermarkt.
Asked about the ideal squad size, Arteta acknowledged there is no fixed formula. "It depends on the ability and the history of those players," he said. "I think there is a lot of factors that count. Twenty two outfield players and three goalkeepers of what is enough, or maybe you know more. You need to understand what happened in the previous season, the injury record of those players, the versatility of certain players. But I'm sure we're going to hit the right number to have a bit of both a lot of competition with the right level of cooperation in the team and everybody feeling important."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.