Gunners expected to return with fresh bid for Konsa
Arteta says existing players need to step up for now
Arsenal are stepping up their efforts to sign defensive cover for William Saliba after Mikel Arteta revealed that Jurriën Timber is still “weeks away” from returning to competitive action.
Saliba is set to be sidelined for an extended period after breaking down during the World Cup with a back injury that has been affecting him since last season. After seeing Arsenal lose a second successive friendly as Borussia Dortmund won 3-2 on Sunday to lift the Emirates Cup in a performance that featured several defensive mistakes, Arteta would not be drawn on when the France defender is expected to return but admitted that it would take “some time to heal”.
There are also concerns over Timber, who pulled out of the Netherlands squad on the eve of the World Cup after failing to recover from a persistent groin injury that saw him miss most of the run-in last season.
“No, I cannot be very precise with that,” said Arteta when asked when Timber is expected to return. “Jurriën is progressing really well. He’s on the pitch, he’s doing quite a lot right now, but it’s still weeks away. I cannot tell you how much. William Saliba is in rest mode at the moment for two weeks. He had to do almost nothing, an aggravated injury, so it’s going to take some time to heal. We know that. And as soon as we have more news, we can inform you.”
Pressed on how Arsenal will cope without Saliba, he added: “We have experienced that in the past, unfortunately. And when he’s been available, he’s hit home and the stats are incredible. So we know that we lost a massive player, the same with Jurriën.”
Arsenal had a bid for Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa rejected earlier this summer and are expected to return with a new offer for the England defender, who is also capable of playing at right-back. Villa value him at £60m but with less than two years left on his contract, Arsenal are unwilling to pay that much for the 28-year-old. The Premier League champions have also shown an interest in signing Cristian Romero from Tottenham, but any more for the Argentina defender is extremely unlikely given Spurs’ reluctance to sell to their north London rivals.
Arteta, who started with Cristhian Mosquera in central defence alongside Gabriel Magalhães against Dortmund, admitted that Arsenal’s existing players must get up to speed before next week’s Community Shield meeting with Manchester City but did not rule out bringing in another defender.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. It has to be the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that,” he said. “We conceded some poor goals today in the way we competed, especially. But that’s a very collective responsibility. So we need to improve with the players that we have. And we want to improve, for sure, we want that.”
