Why Arsenal have moved for Ezri Konsa as £51m transfer announcement imminent

Arsenal have prioritised bringing in a right-sided defender over the last couple of weeks.While Arteta stopped short of confirming Konsa will be joining the Gunners, he did emphasise how much the club needed to strengthen in that area of the pitch."We are really active in the market, I mentioned that a few days ago," Arteta said at his press conference on Thursday."The ambition is to improve the squad. Obviously we have a really specific issue in the back line, especially with the long-term injury with Willy and the fact that we miss one more defender."That's clear so we are trying to reinforce that area. Whenever we're ready, we'll announce something."We are willing to improve that area and we're going to try our best to achieve that."Ezri Konsa is finalising his move to ArsenalLondon StandardBefore bringing in Konsa, Arsenal were relying on Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera to stay fit and ensure Arteta did not have to get creative at the back.Konsa offers Premier League experience as well as versatility at full-back and centre-back, adding to the Gunners' formidable defensive options.Arteta has been keen to avoid a repeat of last season, when he was short at right-back in the closing stages of the season.Read MoreMosquera was primarily used at full-back, while Arteta also at times turned to Declan Rice as an emergency option."I would like to have the squad as big as possible because we know what we are fighting for, how long this is," Arteta said."I will learn again from the past, especially last year, when we got in some difficulties, especially when we had two or three injuries in the same area of the pitch."So the deeper the squad that we have, the better."