Konsa to Arsenal: £50m medical booked as Gunners land an eighth defender

Ezri Konsa is expected to sit his Arsenal medical on Thursday with a move to the Emirates Stadium worth in excess of £50m now effectively wrapped up. The two clubs shook hands on a deal for the England centre-back on Wednesday after weeks of haggling, and the 28-year-old has been given the green light to head to north London for the formalities.

The window in which Arsenal looked to have drifted towards Bayer Leverkusen’s Jarell Quansah has closed; United’s London rivals have brought their pursuit of Konsa back on track and are now poised to complete the signing.

Why the Gunners want another body at the back

On the surface the business looks curious. Arsenal already count seven senior defenders in their ranks, yet Mikel Arteta has pressed for an eighth. The logic, spelled out in the club’s reasoning, is a defensive department under genuine strain before the new season has even kicked off.

William Saliba, the bedrock of last season’s title-winning back line, has been ruled out for an extended period with a long-standing back problem that also cut short his World Cup with France. Jurrien Timber, first choice at right-back, is sidelined for the opening weeks with a groin issue that forced him out of the Netherlands squad. White, who carries his own recent fitness concerns, stands as the only healthy right-back available to the head coach, leaving 21-year-old Cristhian Mosquera as the lone right-sided centre-back.

Arteta is said to dislike fielding two left-footed players at the heart of his defence. With Riccardo Calafiori preferred at left-back for the attacking thrust he offers and Piero Hincapie also left-sided, a right-footed reinforcement has become a priority rather than a luxury.

Konsa’s underlying numbers make plain the appeal. Across the division last term he posted the strongest ground-duel success rate among defenders, 73.1%, and a passing accuracy of 95% — a figure no player in the top flight matched. Among defenders he also ranked fifth for carries beyond five metres.

A Villa squad being picked clean

The other side of the story is less comfortable for the Midlands club. Villa have watched Europe’s big spenders dismantle the core of the side Unai Emery built, with Morgan Rogers sold to Chelsea in a record £117m deal, Youri Tielemans heading to Manchester United and Lucas Digne permitted to join Paris St-Germain. Emi Martinez is also expected to follow them out of the door, and Villa have already tested Southampton with an £18m bid for Taylor Harwood-Bellis as they scramble for replacements, days before their league opener at Brighton.

For Arsenal, this represents a statement of intent from a squad already valued at more than £1bn. Konsa’s arrival will push this summer’s outlay beyond £150m, on top of the £250m lavished last year, as the champions seek to avoid a repeat of the injury pile-up that hobbled a 63-match campaign.

BBC Sport first reported that the champions had revived talks with Villa last week. Now, with the medical all but booked, the deal is set to be done — and Arteta’s search for depth has its answer.