Arsenal are hunting a versatile defender after injuries to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber left Mikel Arteta short at the back, with Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa the club's top target. A report from Football Insider claimed the move was '99 per cent' done, with a club-to-club agreement in its 'final stages'.
Fabrizio Romano, working from the same transfer window as everyone else, offered a considerably cooler assessment: Konsa is merely on Arsenal's shortlist and has been for some time. Also mentioned and swiftly denied are Marc Pubill (Atletico insist he's 'not for sale') and Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen 'rejected the approach'), while talks for Barcelona's Jules Kounde have not advanced in any way.
So the actual state of play is: Arsenal like a defender, several defenders in fact, and none of the deals are close. Everything else is noise dressed up as certainty.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.