Konsa-mate professional – Arteta hails Ezri’s leadership
Mikel Arteta says he has been hugely impressed by Ezri Konsa’s integration at Arsenal, with the England international’s leadership qualities apparent from the moment he walked through the door.
Signed last month to bolster the right side of the defence in the absence of William Saliba and Jurrien Timber, the 28-year-old has quickly been chucked in at the deep end. He made his debut as a substitute against former club Aston Villa after Cristhian Mosquera pulled up injured, then stepped in for the Spaniard with starts against Chelsea and Napoli.
Konsa’s physicality has already impressed supporters, most notably when his crunching tackle on Morgan Rogers was celebrated like a goal by the Emirates crowd last weekend. It is the way he has carried himself around his new teammates, however, that has particularly pleased Arteta, who sanctioned his £50 million move.
On Konsa’s eye-catching start, the manager said: “It’s certainly something to admire because it’s not easy at all and you should not take it for granted.
“But after talking to a lot of people that have worked with him, whether they’re staff members or players, I already had a sense of the way everybody was talking about him, that he’s a person that is great at gathering people together, he has a real personality, a lot of leadership skills, and you saw the first day he just trained the way he was talking, the way he was presenting himself.
“It was very impressive and so far he’s done a really good job.”
Konsa’s arrival has gone a long way towards easing concerns about how Arsenal might cope without Saliba. After aggravating a back problem at the World Cup, the Frenchman has been ordered to rest and there is still no confirmed timeline for his return.
Of course, adding another body is one thing. Finding a capable deputy for one of the world’s best centre-backs is quite another. Konsa’s early performances suggest Arsenal will not need to rush Saliba back before he is ready.
“We had him [Saliba] and Jurrien [Timber] out for long periods, and then we had the issue with Mosquera, so we were really, really thin at the back,” explained Arteta.
“We needed to put another good player in that position, especially with the expectation that we have the amount of minutes that they are going to have to try to play. We’ve done it, and so far it’s working well.”
When Saliba does return, Konsa could also be deployed at right-back to ease the strain on Ben White and Timber. Both have spent extended periods holding the fort while the other recovered from various war wounds, often to the detriment of their own fitness. By the end of last season, Mosquera, who is more naturally a centre-back, was being asked to cover for both of them.
“Yeah, that was one of the challenges last year, especially when we have two or three injuries within the same line, sometimes in the same position as well.
“Hopefully this season we have a bit more luck, and we can manage that better, and if we manage that better, probably the likelihood of them getting injuries is going to be low.”
Asked whether the demands of the right-back role had contributed to the fitness problems suffered by White and Timber, Arteta pointed to the knock-on effect of one injury placing an unsustainable workload on another player.
“Well, with Jurrien in the last three seasons as well, he had the ACL; it was a long-term injury that has consequences afterwards, and then Ben [White] was out, and you start to load a player for five weeks, and our schedule begins to play 15 games in that period.
“I mean, the probability of something happening, it is bigger, and yeah, the full-backs’ position nowadays, they do have some huge physical demands.”
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