Copy linkFacebookXPinterestEmailShare this article 0Join the conversationFollow usAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleNewsletterSubscribe to our newsletterEzri Konsa is an Arsenal player. The best defence in the world last season just added another excellent ball-playing centre-back and a decent full-back. It's both demoralising for Aston Villa and what Premier League champions do.Much of the conversation is centred on the Europa League winners and the rapid erosion of their spine; Emiliano Martinez replaced, Konsa and Lucas Digne now gone, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers sold, with Ollie Watkins perhaps out of the door, leaving John McGinn presumably running himself even harder into the Villa Park turf next season. For the fans at the very, very least, it's really not fair that a club can win a major European trophy and qualify for the Champions League by finishing ahead of the champions who spent �400 million, by the way and sell so many of their top players.But another corner of the conversation is simply why? Where does Konsa fit at Arsenal?The obvious answer is that William Saliba is sidelined for an indeterminate period of time with a back injury, which isn't as simple as just three months on the sidelines and right as rain. The Frenchman might not be back until Christmas. His load will have to be managed.Gabriel looked tired at times over the summer. If manager Mikel Arteta is to replace his team chronologically, then surely the difficult conversation of when to phase the Brazilian out will rear its head in the next 18 months. January links to Marc Guehi suggest as such. At right-back, Arteta has had less of a selection headache than a pounding migraine since 2023. Konsa isn't a right-back by trade but Jurrien Timber is still to return to the fold, having made a brief appearance in the Champions League final before surgery ruled him out of the World Cup. Ben White has had serious struggles with injury over the past few years and cannot be relied upon thanks, in part, to pushing himself beyond the limits when Timber himself was recuperating from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Cristhian Mosquera is still a solid prospect, but raw. Declan Rice played there at times last season (and for England). So Arsenal have now stockpiled eight players capable of playing at centre-back: first-choice pairing Saliba and Gabriel; Konsa, Mosquera, Timber and White (who can all play right-back); and Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori (who are the two primary picks at left-back). Myles Lewis-Skelly can play left-back, too (though is primarily a midfielder), while it can't be ruled out entirely that Rice or Martin Zubimendi move to right-back this season, even in a pinch.Yet the hierarchy is particularly intriguing. Saliba and Gabriel are undroppable, surely; Calafiori and Hincapie are seemingly interchangeable, thanks to the former's injury issues; Timber starts ahead of White, in part, due to the latter's. Mosquera is still just 22 but he's trusted enough to start a Champions League final, or to be brought on ahead of more experienced players who, as mentioned, are full-backs now but capable centrally.Which makes the signing of Konsa ever-more intriguing. Maybe he will usurp White and compete with Timber maybe he'll even replace Timber (though it feels unlikely, given the Dutchman is in talks for a new contract). Maybe he will compete with Gabriel, though the pair are the same age and Konsa isn't left-footed.Given what Arsenal have done in attack and midfield, however, it seems clearer than ever that stockpiling elite talent is simply the direction that top teams have to move in.David Luiz recently told FourFourTwo that he felt that Paris Saint-Germain's failures in the Champions League were at least partly down to squad depth. Last season, Ousmane Dembele started just 10 Ligue 1 games last season. Doue started 16; Kvaratskhelia 18. This summer, they've doubled down to sign Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to improve that attacking depth. The days of Liverpool having no real backup to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah or Fabinho are gone. Manchester City lost Sergio Aguero and cosplayed with false nines for a bit. Pep Guardiola reportedly told his City bosses last summer that he wanted a smaller squad.When City and Liverpool accrued 195 points between them, the champions had John Stones, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi as their collection of centre-backs and they were favoured in that order. Kompany had overcome his injury issues and wasn't a guaranteed starter in Pep Guardiola's early tenure; Laporte was still adapting to the league, while Otamendi had his doubters pre-Pep. The runners-up, meanwhile, had Virgil van Dijk as their standout; Joel Matip partnered him 31 times in all competitions, Joe Gomez 25 and Dejan Lovren 18. Arsenal's centre-backs are a little more difficult to organise. They've gone from Gabriel being the main man and Saliba his protege with a Break glass for Rob Holding behind to Gabriel and Saliba being equal partners. Konsa is not joining to be a backup.It's similar elsewhere on the pitch. In Arsenal's three-man midfield in 2024/25, Arteta leant on three senior no.8s and a wildcard (Martin Odegaard, Rice and Mikel Merino, with Ethan Nwaneri to develop) alongside two senior options at no.6 (Thomas Partey and an ageing Jorginho, expected to not play much). In the summer of 2025, he replaced Nwaneri with an established marquee signing, in Eberechi Eze (and kept Nwaneri, for good measure, until January), and replaced both Partey and Jorginho with Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard. He has replaced Norgaard with another Premier League captain in Bruno Guimaraes, and Lewis-Skelly has established himself in that position, too.Get FourFourTwo NewsletterThe best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Arsenal used all four defensive midfield players i.e., Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Rice and Zubimendi in the Community Shield. Some games will call for Odegaard this season, others for Eze; some will call for both. Merino didn't touch grass. It looks like only Nwaneri will leave (either permanently or otherwise). On the right wing, Bukayo Saka had no serious back-up for a while. Nwaneri moonlighted there; Raheem Sterling joined on loan. Yet the club invested serious money in Noni Madueke last summer, and Max Dowman has been shown a path at 16 years of age. Likewise, it seems like Viktor Gyokeres was not signed merely to be a backup to Kai Havertz but to compete and complement the German, with the pair featuring alongside each other on more than one occasion. It's not clear who will play how many minutes this season at Arsenal. While there was a clear hierarchy previously and at previous Premier League champions it feels a lot less defined these days.Who is City's best centre-back, of Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol? In fact, who's the first-choice pairing? Who is Arsenal's best midfield double-pivot? Does Arteta even know where Konsa will slot in, or does he just want depth for depth's sake, because it's better to have that than no one?None of this is unusual. Arsenal didn't exactly need another right-back when Ben White was in his pomp, but signed Timber anyway; likewise, Kieran Tierney was one of the club's more important players when Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced him. While we speak of football clubs having first XIs and back-ups, it's never really like that: injuries play their part, of course, and managers will always claim that they want two competing players in every position. Even in Arsenal's last great era, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were the gold standard, but Sylvain Wiltord and Nwankwo Kanu won the league at Old Trafford. All four were established internationals.But even from then, it feels like we've shifted to super squads now. More than ever, it feels like players are happier to play 70 per cent of fixtures and have elite competition, simply because of how much football there is. Liverpool went out and signed Luis Diaz in a January window to compete with Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota. And that's really normal these days. They signed Alexander Isak when they already had Hugo Ekitike. One of the best defenders in the country isn't necessarily needed at Arsenal. The Gunners could well have made a Ronald Araujo-type signing, promoted youngster Marli Salmon to more minutes, brought in a clear backup either a 22-year-old to develop or a 32-year-old to cover. The fact they have made another �50m+ signing is as much a sign of how far they've come as it is an indicator of the depth and investment now needed at the top.TOPICSEzri KonsaArsenalAston VillaTransfer newsMark WhiteSocial Links NavigationContent EditorMark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robsons time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.
