Fabrizio Romano confirms £50m deal that exposes massive Liverpool problem

Ezri Konsa has completed a £50m transfer (plus £5m in add-ons) for Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed the update on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have bolstered their backline with the loan arrival of Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo.

Ezri Konsa joins Arsenal and exposes Liverpool squad depth concern

Say what you will about Arsenal stockpiling defenders, but the Gunners’ remarkable squad depth in 2025/26 proved to be a key asset in bringing the Premier League title back to North London.

It’s a great demonstration of how proactive Arsenal’s recruitment department has been, addressing William Saliba’s ongoing injury concern.

Bear in mind that Mikel Arteta’s men can already rely on the following array of players to file out in the heart of the defence if need be:

Gabriel Magalhaes

Riccardo Calafiori

Ben White

Jurrien Timber

Piero Hincapie

Cristhian Mosquera

But compared to Liverpool’s defensive depth… well, things look a little “iffy” there, so to speak:

Virgil van Dijk

Jeremy Jacquet

Ronald Araujo

Giovanni Leoni (recovering from injury)

Joe Gomez (recovering from injury)

Technically speaking, the numbers are there, but Liverpool are currently suffering from their own injury concerns. Not to mention the fact that captain and long-time servant Virgil van Dijk has recently turned 35, so a drop-off of sorts wouldn’t be a complete shock.

If Liverpool are to mount a title challenge, they need bodies

To be clear, we have absolutely no expectation when it comes to the prospect of Liverpool mounting a serious title challenge in 2026/27.

For starters, there’s been a change of management – which brings with it an important shift back to intensity-first football – and as far as we’re concerned, Andoni Iraola doesn’t have nearly enough squad depth to compete on all four fronts this term.

We do expect Liverpool’s recruitment team to complete deals for two new forwards this summer, which would at least ensure the Basque has a workable forward line.

However, the truth of the matter is we look an injury or two away from a genuine crisis in the midfield and backline.