London
Arsenal have completed the £51m deal to sign defender Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa. The England international has signed a four-year contract with the option of an additional 12 months after passing his medical, with only official confirmation of the deal remaining.
The 28-year-old could now make his Arsenal debut against his old club at Villa Park in the Monday Night Football on August 31.
Konsa has become Arsenal's fifth major summer signing after Piero Hincapie joined permanently from Bayer Leverkusen and the arrivals of Illan Meslier, Christos Tzolis and Bruno Guimaraes.
Konsa's arrival comes after the Premier League champions were looking for a new defender with William Saliba out for an extended period of time, while Jurrien Timber remains sidelined with a long-term groin problem.
Villa had initially held out for £60m, with Arsenal hoping to pay much less, but the two clubs found a compromise on Thursday to strike a deal for the former Brentford defender.
Arsenal also looked into a potential move for Bayer Leverkusen's Jarell Quansah but have chosen to sign his England team-mate Konsa. Both players have a similar profile and can play at right-back and centre-back.
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.
He 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 - his new team-mate.
With both Saliba and Timber out injured, Arsenal were in need of 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 Manchester City - but the latter has a lengthy 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 - with the young Spaniard conceding a penalty.
Now a move for Konsa has been 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.
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