CaughtOffside<\/a>“, the club’s hierarchy are weighing up a new centre-back, and Konsa sits at the top of their shortlist.\n<\/p>\nThere is a snag. Villa have slapped a 60 million pound price tag on their man, a figure Arsenal consider steep.\n<\/p>\n
The Gunners haven’t pulled out of the race, though. Talks and contacts remain live as they wait to see what the coming days deliver.\n<\/p>\n
The player is open to leaving: the decision lies with Aston Villa<\/p>\n
Liverpool have also been credited with an interest, but reports say Konsa is receptive to the idea of leaving Villa Park without actively agitating for a transfer.\n<\/p>\n
That hands Aston Villa full control over the future of the 28-year-old. His contract still has plenty left to run, so the club will call the shots on any bid that lands.\n<\/p>\n
Konsa isn’t the only name on Arsenal’s radar. West Ham’s Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos features on the list, as does Spaniard Jacobo Ram\u00f3n of Italian side Como.\n<\/p>\n
Technically, Konsa looks the most ready of the bunch. Even so, the club’s decision-makers have yet to settle on which defender they will prioritise this window.\n<\/p>\n
Mavropanos, meanwhile, is expected to leave West Ham after their relegation to the Championship, which could make him a tidy, economical option.\n<\/p>\n
Ram\u00f3n keeps drawing eyes after a series of impressive displays in Serie A. He is seen as a project defender with the tools to grow into a key man down the line.\n<\/p>\n
Saliba’s injury forces action<\/p>\n
Arsenal’s need for a new defender is only sharpening amid reports that Saliba’s injury could sideline him for a considerable spell.\n<\/p>\n
The Frenchman has been one of the side’s great pillars in recent years. Covering his absence sits at the top of Mikel Arteta’s to-do list before the new campaign kicks off.\n<\/p>\n
Neither Konsa nor Ram\u00f3n brings quite what Saliba offers, but both would add depth and hand the coaching staff extra solutions.\n<\/p>\n
Fail to land a new defender, and Arteta may have to shuffle one of his current crop into the middle. Piero Hincapi\u00e9, Jurri\u00ebn Timber, Ben White or Riccardo Calafiori could all be asked to fill the void left by Saliba.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal are pressing hard in the summer market to reinforce a defence stretched by William Saliba’s injury, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4026,258902,24899,258901,258899,258900,85,46,18096,2617,2619,105,46421],"class_list":["post-572280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arsenal","tag-arsenal-vs-coventry-city","tag-arsenal-vs-manchester-city","tag-community-shield","tag-coventry-city","tag-e-konsa","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-m-arteta","tag-manchester-city","tag-premier-league","tag-sports","tag-w-saliba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}