The Ezri Konsa signing by Arsenal has reportedly been completed, with an announcement expected soon. The Ezri Konsa signing from Aston Villa cost the Gunners a little over £50 million. It was primarily made to compensate for the absence of William Saliba and Jurrien Timber owing to injuries.
The Ezri Konsa signing bolstered the Arsenal squad further after they had roped in a midfielder in Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United and had also signed Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge. The defensive reinforcement should prove to be necessary in the marathon season that is coming up.
Why the Ezri Konsa Signing Is Necessary for Arsenal
Konsa is an England international and played at the recent World Cup for the Three Lions. He is 28 at the moment and should have a few years left in him at the top-flight level.
Konsa has spent seven seasons at Aston Villa and has played in 286 matches for the club. Konsa has also been capped 28 times for England so far.
That is a fair bit of experience, and Arsenal can definitely benefit from it. Reports suggest that Saliba will not be able to be back in action before October, and the same might be true about Timber.
In such a scenario, Arsenal need an additional centre-back. The fact that Konsa can play as the right-back as well makes him cover for Timber as well. Saliba is definitely one of the best central defenders in the world and replacing him will not be an easy task, though.
Arsenal already have a plethora of options in their attack and midfield and can afford to shuffle their resources at will. Mikel Arteta will be satisfied now that his club have ensured the Ezri Konsa signing, which makes them pretty well-covered in the defence as well.
Arsenal also have Cristhian Mosquera as one of the options in central defence, and it might be a battle between Mosquera and Konsa to make the starting XI for the Gunners. Gabriel is assured of a place in the starting XI as the other centre-back unless he gets injured. It should encourage healthy competition within the squad, and once Saliba comes back, the Gunners will have a very strong defence as well.
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The Konsa Signing Has Left Aston Villa Depleted
Aston Villa, who are the Europa League champions and will play in the UEFA Champions League this season, have had to deal with the departures of Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and now Ezri Konsa.
The exit of so many players has left them depleted, and Unai Emery will find it difficult to deal with a long season with his squad. The Ezri Konsa signing by Arsenal will weaken Aston Villa’s defence considerably.
In that aspect, the situation at Aston Villa is similar to the one at Newcastle United, who have sold too many players for their own good. Selling an experienced centre-back like Konsa should be affecting Villa a lot unless they opt to sign a reinforcement.
However, that will no longer be the concern for Konsa, who should rather be concerned about winning trophies for his new club.
The North Londoners will start the season as the favourites to defend their Premier League title. It now remains to be seen whether the Ezri Konsa signing plays a key role in ensuring silverware for Arteta’s team in the coming season.
