Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa is reportedly Arsenal’s first-choice defensive target this summer and so it remains to be seen if a bid is forthcoming.
The 28-year-old has been a fundamental presence in our backline since joining us from Brentford in 2019, and he has since gone on to make 286 appearances for the club and in turn firmly establish himself as a pillar of the side that has enjoyed so much progress and success in recent years.
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With that in mind, it doesn’t seem like a sensible move from Villa to consider a departure this summer, but naturally speculation is linking him with a potential move elsewhere, as BBC Sport report that Arsenal have made the England international their top defensive target and have already enquired about his availability.
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After their protracted pursuit of Morgan Rogers ended with him joining rivals Chelsea instead, it remains to be seen if Arsenal are willing to meet Villa’s demands in this instance with Konsa either, as if not, there surely won’t be a deal to be done.
Albeit he will turn 29 later this year and with his current contract set to expire in June 2028, there are reasons why Villa might be tempted to sell if a suitable offer was submitted, as we’ve seen already this summer that there is perhaps a shift in our transfer strategy as we rebuild the squad and lower both the wage bill and average age of the group.
However, such is the importance of Konsa and how he gives us a solid defensive foundation on which we can build and go out and win games, it’s unclear at this stage if he is a player that Unai Emery would be willing to lose.
With Youri Tielemans and Rogers having already departed and with Lucas Digne expected to follow, we’re losing key individuals this summer and it remains to be seen if allowing another to leave would cause too much disruption and be one too many in terms of too much turnover in one transfer window.
Nevertheless, we’ve been savvy with our recruitment thus far too with Johan Manzambi, Joao Gomes and Alejandro Garnacho arriving to bolster our options, but time will tell if there will be a reshuffle at centre-half as well with the ideal outcome being that Konsa stays and we focus on other areas that still need to be addressed.
