Fabrizio Romano drops truth bomb on Ezri Konsa signing and three others

Fabrizio Romano has revealed all on Arsenal and their attempts to sign a new defender, with stunning claims about Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa seemingly debunked.

Arsenal are in the market for a versatile defender who can play both centre-back and right-back. The desire to add such a player stems from injury issues with William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.

Saliba will miss several months of action while recovering from a back injury sustained at the World Cup. Timber is nursing a persistent groin problem that will rule the Dutchman out of Arsenal’s opening game at least.

Mikel Arteta has made a habit of signing tall defenders who can play centrally or at full-back. Ben White, Timber, Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori are current examples, and the Gunners boss wants another.

Aston Villa’s £60m-rated Ezri Konsa is the top target, and a recent report from Football Insider claimed a deal was pretty much done.

They stated: ‘Ezri Konsa’s move to Arsenal is “99 per cent” done after he informed Aston Villa of his desire to leave.’

The outlet then stated a club-to-club agreement had advanced to the ‘final stages’.

These alleged developments may well be a figment of the outlet’s imagination, however, with a fresh update from Fabrizio Romano suggesting no such progress has been made.

Fabrizio Romano on Ezri Konsa to Arsenal

Reporting on his YouTube channel, Romano explained: “The other name I would keep in the shortlist for Arsenal is Ezri Konsa.

“Because the Aston Villa defender is very appreciated, Arsenal are considering the player. Arsenal have the player on their shortlist, and he’s been on their shortlist for some time.

“So for sure Konsa is a name to keep in mind when we talk about Arsenal signing a defender.”

Clearly, Konsa is an Arsenal target and TEAMtalk understands he’s the top choice with regards to signing a new defender.

However, claims an agreement is practically done do appear to be premature given Romano’s much more cautious update.

Jules Kounde, Marc Pubill, Jarell Quansah…

Others on Arsenal’s radar are Jules Kounde (Barcelona), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid) and Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen).

In his update on YouTube, Romano confirmed Arsenal ‘made calls’ for 23-year-old Pubil earlier this week.

However, the Spaniard is ‘not for sale’ at Atletico Madrid and the Pubill story is thus a ‘non-story’, per Romano.

Talks with Bayer Leverkusen have been held for Quansah, with Romano describing the contact as ‘official’.

However, Leverkusen ‘rejected the approach’ and don’t want to sell the player. Sky Germany state Leverkusen’s decision has been made and there’ll be no exit for the England international.

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On Kounde, a prior update from Romano verified claims in Spain that the Barcelona ace is in Arsenal’s sights.

However, Romano stressed that there have been no major developments as yet, and that talks for the Frenchman’s transfer are not advanced in any way.

As such, it appears Konsa remains the main man for Arsenal, though claims an agreement is imminent are wide of the mark.

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