Arsenal told everyone in July that William Saliba would be out for an extended period with a back problem, and the reaction was close to panic. Eight games into the season Saliba still has not played, and Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than anyone in the Premier League. The reason is a 29-year-old centre-back who arrived with questions attached and has answered all of them by playing.
The signing nobody could explain in August
Ezri Konsa cost £55m from Aston Villa and joined on the opening day of the season, with no pre-season behind him. Arsenal already had seven senior defenders. They already had the Saliba-Gabriel partnership, one of the best in Europe, and Cristhian Mosquera had been signed as well. The money, people pointed out, could have gone on a forward. It was a fair question in August.
What the complaints missed is that Arsenal have changed how they buy. The policy now is players at the peak of their careers rather than projects, because the club believes this is the window in which it can keep winning things. Konsa fits that description exactly: 286 Villa appearances, a Europa League winner's medal from May, and seven starts out of eight for England at the World Cup.
Numbers that are hard to argue with
Konsa had the best pass-completion rate of any player in the Premier League last season. He is top again this season at 96% from 324 passes. Among outfield players who contested twenty or more ground duels last season, nobody won a higher share. He sits twelfth this time round, which is still comfortably in the top bracket.
Arsenal have five clean sheets in eight games, more than any other side. Konsa has started six of them. The exception was the second game of the season, when he came on for an injured Mosquera against Villa, of all clubs. He scored his first Arsenal goal on Saturday against Everton, in the same game Gabriel made his 200th Premier League appearance and scored his 21st.
Arteta is not pretending to be surprised
"He's gone to a huge club like Arsenal with no pre-season when Saliba is here, with other players that are already here," Arteta said. "To position yourself in that manner, with that naturality I would say, and performing at the level that he's doing... it's very difficult to do and we are really lucky to have him."
Martin Keown made the sharper point on Match of the Day: Saliba and Gabriel were both on the Ballon d'Or list as the best defenders in world football, and Konsa has not been overshadowed by the company he keeps. Morgan Rogers, who played alongside Konsa at Villa and moved to Chelsea for £117m in the summer, said during the World Cup that his old team-mate does not get the credit he deserves.
Saliba is back on grass doing individual work with no date set for a return, and when he is fit Arteta will have a genuine problem to solve. Konsa can play right-back, which gives Arsenal one way out of it. The other is that a title defence is long and nobody has ever complained about having three centre-backs good enough to start.
Player context: Ezri Konsa, 29, signed for Arsenal from Aston Villa in August 2026 for £55m after 286 appearances for Villa. He has started six of Arsenal's eight Premier League games this season, scoring his first goal against Everton. Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than any side in the division. Source: BBC Sport.
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