Arsenal transfer news: Gunners interested in John Stones and Ezri Konsa after William Saliba injury blow

Arsenal hold an interest in John Stones and Ezri Konsa as they look to sign a centre-back this summer following news of an extended period on the sidelines for William Saliba.

Saliba has avoided the need for surgery after injuring his back during France's World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain but the 25-year-old faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation.

Stones is available as a free agent having reached the end of his contract at Manchester City last month. Sky Sports News has reported the England defender is also a target for Chelsea.

The 32-year-old worked with Mikel Arteta during the Arsenal manager's time as assistant to Pep Guardiola at City.

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Konsa, who represented England alongside Stones at the World Cup, is four years younger than Stones at 28 and has two years remaining on his contract at Aston Villa.

Sky Sports News understands Arsenal have been exploring the cost of a potential deal for Konsa but there is a significant gap in valuation with Villa.

Both Konsa and Stones can also operate at right-back.

Arsenal have consolidated their defensive options by completing the permanent signing of Piero Hincapie following his loan spell from Bayer Leverkusen last season.

They also have Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori, Cristhian Mosquera, Jurrien Timber and Ben White as centre-back options.

White has returned to training following the knee injury he suffered in May, while Timber said this week he is "hopefully back soon" as he continues his rehabilitation from a groin problem.

Arteta an admirer of Stones

It's easy to see the logic behind Arsenal's interest in Stones. He is available on a free transfer and brings a wealth of experience following a glittering 10-year spell at the Etihad Stadium during which he won 17 trophies including six Premier League titles.

Arteta knows his game intimately having worked with him for three years under Guardiola and confirmed his admiration when Arsenal were rumoured to be interested in signing him in 2020.

"John is a player I really like," he said. "We followed him before we signed him when I was at City. I worked with him for many years. I know him well and when I look at centre-backs, he has many attributes that I like."

Stones' availability on a free adds to his appeal as someone who could provide short-term cover for Saliba having proved his fitness at the World Cup, where he made five appearances for England over the course of the tournament.

His injury history is, however, a concern.

Stones was limited to only 439 Premier League minutes last season due to thigh, calf and muscular injuries, and only played 547 minutes in another disrupted campaign before that.

The former Everton defender did not play more than 59 per cent of Premier League minutes in any of his 10 seasons at Manchester City.

Konsa attractive but tougher deal to do

Konsa offers far more robustness than Stones. He has made a minimum of 33 Premier League starts in five consecutive seasons for Aston Villa and has no history of significant injury.

Like Stones, he is comfortable in possession and able to withstand opposition pressure on the ball. He primarily plays as a right-sided centre-back, in the same position as Saliba, but showed his capacity to play at right-back during the World Cup.

Konsa also boasts outstanding physical qualities and ranks as one of the Premier League's best one-on-one defenders. In fact, according to Opta, he had the highest ground-duel success rate of any outfield player in the Premier League last term, at 73 per cent.

That combativeness is sure to appeal to Arteta but signing him over Stones would require a far greater financial outlay on a player who turns 29 in October, with Aston Villa said to value him at £60m.

Which players match Saliba's profile?

Interestingly, neither Stones nor Konsa appear among the 10 most stylistically similar players to Saliba across Europe's major leagues when using Twenty3's player similarity tool, although Konsa only narrowly misses out in 12th.

The tool, which factors a range of statistics, ranks Inter's Manuel Akanji, formerly of Manchester City, Nice defender Kojo Peprah Oppong and Como's Jacobo Ramon as the most similar players to Saliba, with similarity scores of 97 per cent.

The only Premier League defenders in the top 10 are Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah and Manchester City's Ruben Dias, who are given similarity scores of 94 per cent.

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Arsenal transfer news: Gunners interested in John Stones and Ezri Konsa after William Saliba injury blow