Arsenal vs. Coventry Preview, Ezri Konsa £51m Transfer & Our Message to the Haters!

Arsenal have reportedly reached an agreement with Aston Villa for the England international Esri Konca with the deal understood to be worth around 50 to 51 million pounds.

Personal terms are also believed to be in place with the medical expected to be the next major step.

And this is pretty interesting because Konca is not necessarily the kind of player Arsenal would have been expected to chase.

at the beginning of the summer.

But circumstances have changed.

Arsenal are starting the season with defensive concerns, particularly with William Saliba and Jürgen Timber dealing with fitness issues.

And suddenly, having an experienced Premier League defender who can play both centre-back and right-back makes a lot of sense.

Konca also brings something difficult to buy in the transfer market.

Familiarity.

He knows the Premier League.

He knows what it means to defend against the pace and physicality of English football and he's been playing at a high level with Aston Villa for several seasons.

He's also an England international so this is not a gamble on potential.

Arsenal are essentially buying a player who is ready to contribute immediately.

The interesting question though is whether Arsenal are buying Konca as an emergency solution or as part of the longer term squad.

Because at 28, he's entering his prime rather than being a developmental signing.

If Saliba, Timber, Gabriel and Konca are all fit, Mikel Arteta suddenly has some serious options in that defensive unit and Konca's ability to move across to right back gives Arsenal another layer of flexibility.

There's also the money.

Aston Villa were reportedly looking for closer to £60m while Arsenal's earlier position was considerably lower.

So, if this deal does eventually come in around 51 million, then Arsenal have clearly decided that the players' versatility, Premier League experience and immediate availability justify stretching the budget.

And frankly, that tells you something about Arsenal's thinking.

This is not a club behaving like it has finished the building rule.

Champions or not, Ateta and the recruitment team are still looking for ways to make the squad harder to break.

Konca may not be the headline-grabbing superstar signing that gets everybody excited on social media, but he could prove to be one of those very useful Arsenal additions that makes much more sense once you watch the season unfold.

The immediate priority now is the medical.

If that goes through without a problem, then we can start talking about Ezri Konca as an Arsenal player.