Ezri Konsa

Konsa wants Arsenal, Villa want £60m, and Arsenal will not go there

William Saliba's back injury, announced on 23 July for an extended spell, has made a centre-back Arsenal's priority. Ezri Konsa, 28, is the leading option: Premier League experience, able to play centrally or at right-back, and two years left on his Villa Park contract. A first approach worth around £35m was rejected. James McNicholas (The Athletic) puts Arsenal at about £40m and Aston Villa above £60m, a gap that has not moved since July. Liverpool are monitoring the situation too.

Latest development

**Update 15/08 (evening) — two versions of the same story in one day, and only one holds up.** Football Insider (Pete O'Rourke) reported in the morning that the transfer was '99% done', personal terms agreed, for a fee around £60m; the story was picked up in turn by GiveMeSport, Football365 and CaughtOffside. A few hours later, asked about that same deal, Fabrizio Romano said exactly this: Arsenal 'have the player on their shortlist, and he's been on their shortlist for some time'. Nothing more. Between a near-completed agreement and an identified target, the gap is not a matter of wording. We follow Romano. The line therefore stays at BID SUBMITTED and does NOT move to PERSONAL TERMS: an agreement is not declared on a single outlet, however well briefed, when the best-placed source says the opposite on the same day. What remains established, and corroborated for a fortnight: Arsenal are looking for a centre-back after the injuries to William Saliba and Jurriën Timber, Konsa is a real and long-standing target, Aston Villa want around £60m and have already turned down a lower proposal. Asked about Konsa and Quansah on the eve of the Community Shield, Mikel Arteta declined to comment on any name, while confirming that Arsenal are 'working on a few things' and that there is still time. **UPDATE 17 Aug — the blockage now has a number, and it has not moved.** Sky Sports News, reporting in-house on 14 August, set out terms nobody has contradicted since: "there is a big gap in valuation between Arsenal and Villa", the Villans want around £60m for a 28-year-old with two years left on his deal, and Arsenal have so far shown no sign of going near it. The ball is in Arsenal's court. In parallel, Football Insider's "99 per cent done" line was recycled all weekend (TeamTalk, GiveMeSport, TheHardTackle) with one extra element: Konsa has reportedly told Aston Villa he wants to leave. The two accounts are not incompatible — a player can want out while the clubs sit £20m apart — but it is the second that governs the progress column. The entry therefore stays at BID SUBMITTED. Knock-on to watch: Everton are waiting on this deal before reviving their interest in Ben White (see that entry).