William Saliba was injured in the semi-final match France lost to Spain at the 2026 World Cup. Arsenal then confirmed that the team's center-back did not have to undergo surgery but would be out of action for a fairly long time.
Among the deals that could move to the Emirates, John Stones (just left Man City) and Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa) are rumored quite a lot in the British media. On Stones' side, after finishing the 2026 World Cup campaign with the "Three Lions", he has not determined his next destination and is considering very carefully. If Arsenal approaches the 32-year-old star, they will immediately have a center-back familiar with the Premier League environment and win countless glories when wearing the Man City shirt.
In the 2024-2025 season and in the 2022-2023 treble campaign, John Stones was pushed up by coach Pep Guardiola to play as a defensive midfielder in many matches. This is unlikely to be repeated if Stones joins Arsenal. However, midfield experience shows that John Stones is a person with good ball handling skills, very suitable for a team building a squad from the lower line like Arsenal.
In terms of class, John Stones is qualified to wear the Arsenal shirt, but in terms of fitness at the age of 32, it is a story that the "Gunners" need to consider very carefully. In the past two seasons, due to many minor injuries, Stones' ability to start is not regular, only 11/78 matches. Like Kevin De Bruyne, injury is the biggest reason why Stones could not continue signing a contract with Man City after 10 years of attachment. Moreover, in 8 seasons in the Premier League, John Stones has never started in 2/3 of the matches each season.
The next case is Ezri Konsa, 28 years old this year. He can play well in the right center-back and right defender positions. Although Konsa is very versatile, the English star has never been in the top group in terms of class in each position he can play. If he owns Konsa, Arsenal will have a versatile option in defense but cannot improve this system. Not to mention that Konsa also has a contract with Aston Villa, Arsenal will definitely have to spend more money than bringing John Stones in as a free transfer.
Dean Smith, former captain of Aston Villa (2018-2021) and Brentford (2015-2018), was the one who brought Ezri Konsa to these two teams. When the 2026 World Cup took place, in an interview with BBC Sports, Smith described Konsa as a defensive player who is always calm and possesses excellent one-on-one ability.
What Dean Smith described is very suitable for the standard of a center-back in Mikel Arteta's player usage view. Like the case of Jurrien Timber or Ben White, Arteta also likes pure center-backs who could previously drift to the wing. In the 2023-24 season, in 35 appearances in the Premier League, Konsa played 17 matches in the right-back position.
Another important thing is that Konsa can contribute continuously because his injury history is very small. Since joining Aston Villa, he has only been out for 4 matches due to a knee injury in the 2023-24 season. Previously in 2022, Konsa was out for 2 months also due to knee pain. In general, this is a player who has played persistently in the Premier League for the past 6 years.
What is worrying if Arsenal approaches this deal is whether Konsa will really be on the bench when Saliba returns. A player with 85% of Premier League starts will find it very difficult to play a supporting role at the Emirates.
