Ornstein says Arsenal are ‘closing in’ on deal for fifth summer signing as transfer ‘advances’
The Athletic’s David Ornstein has revealed that Arsenal are now accelerating towards a deal to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa.
The Gunners have made four permanent signings so far this summer in the form of Illan Meslier (free, Leeds), Piero Hincapie (£34.5m, Bayer Leverkusen), Christos Tzolis (£34.12m, Club Brugge), Bruno Guimaraes (£75m, Newcastle).
Arsenal have been concentrating on bringing in a new attacker for weeks with Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Junior choosing different paths this summer.
Despite having their attention on a new left-sided or versatile attacker, Arsenal have not lost focus that they also wanted to bring in another centre-back, especially after William Saliba suffered a serious injury.
It emerged earlier in the summer that Aston Villa and England centre-back Konsa was their main target in that position over the summer.
Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness revealed on Tuesday that he expected Konsa to sign for Arsenal this summer with his friend at Villa informing him that personal terms have already been agreed on.
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Wyness told Football Insider: “Well, Villa haven’t got a really strong hand of cards here, and I do expect the deal to get done with Arsenal.
“Look, it’s a very good SCR deal for Villa, which is what they’re very conscious of as well. I think they’re going to get to somewhere near £50m plus add-ons; I think that will be what we’re expecting to do.
“I heard this morning from one of my Villa friends that the personal terms had been agreed. So it’s moving that way now; the clubs have got to find a way forward.
“For Villa, if they don’t do it now and then he was to hold out, and they lose him after a year, then that’s not going to be any good for them. So I expect this to get done, and I do expect him to be an Arsenal player, probably next week.”
Arsenal are ‘closing in’ on Konsa
And, after revealing that Manchester United are moving towards a deal for Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, Ornstein dropped his second big update of the day with Arsenal now ‘closing in on a deal’ for Konsa.
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Ornstein posted on X: ‘EXCL: Arsenal closing in on deal to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa. 28yo defender high on #AFC target list all summer & work now advancing with #AVFC to finalise after dialogue at ownership level to reduce valuation gap for England intl @TheAthleticFC.’
In his article for The Athletic, Ornstein adds: ‘England international Konsa, 28, holds particular appeal given his ability to cover at both centre-back and right-back and has been high on Arsenal’s target list all summer.
‘Work is now advancing with Aston Villa to finalise the move after dialogue at ownership level to reduce the valuation gap for the defender.’
