Arsenal\u2019s search for a centre-back has narrowed to two prominent England options, with Jarell Quansah and Ezri Konsa both under consideration. The club have also been linked with Spain\u2019s Marc Pubill, but the latest focus appears to be on two defenders already familiar with the demands of English football.<\/p>\n
Ben Jacobs reported that talks have been reopened with Aston Villa over Konsa. However, with a deal potentially costing more than $81 million (\u00a360 million), Arsenal have also made an approach to Bayer Leverkusen regarding Quansah, according to Sky Sports News.<\/p>\n
Versatility is central to Arsenal\u2019s thinking. All three players are natural centre-backs, yet each has experience at right back, an area that has caused concern while Jurri\u00ebn Timber continues to manage the fitness problems that have affected much of his calendar year.<\/p>\n
There is no indication that Arsenal\u2019s list is limited to only Quansah and Konsa, but both are clearly among the leading candidates. Their status as homegrown players may also work in Arsenal\u2019s favour, particularly if it helps with possible exits for Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, who have been linked with moves away from Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
The pair are at very different stages of their careers. Konsa, 28, has more than 200 Premier League appearances and offers the certainty of an established performer. Quansah, 23, carries a higher degree of uncertainty, but also greater room for growth. He made only 17 Premier League starts before leaving Liverpool last summer for the Bundesliga, where he scored four times in 28 games last season.<\/p>\n
The numbers underline the contrast. Quansah has youth, long-term value and a contract until 2030. Konsa brings experience, 231 Premier League appearances and a deal running until 2028. With the price tags thought to be broadly similar, Arsenal must decide whether to back proven reliability or a longer-term upside.<\/p>\n
For Mikel Arteta, the answer may come down to what his squad needs most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal are weighing Jarell Quansah against Ezri Konsa as they shape their centre-back plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,711],"tags":[1162,59,182],"class_list":["post-18486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-aston-villa","tag-analytics","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}