Arsenal have entered discussions with Bayer Leverkusen about a possible move for England international Jarell Quansah, as Mikel Arteta looks to bolster his defensive ranks.
The Gunners boss regards the 23-year-old as an attractive option given his ability to operate both at centre-back and right-back, two areas where Arsenal currently lack cover.
Quansah has only just returned to Bayer Leverkusen training following a lengthy break after his first World Cup, where he won three caps for England.
He made 44 appearances during his debut campaign in Germany after choosing to leave boyhood club Liverpool last summer.
Leverkusen are understood to be reluctant to let him go, having been impressed both by his displays in the Bundesliga and by how maturely he has settled into life at a new club in a new country.
Arsenal would likely have to offer significantly more than the £30m Leverkusen paid Liverpool for Quansah last July if they want to prise him away, with the defender still tied down on a contract that runs for another four years.
How the original transfer was struck
According to Sky Sports, Quansah's switch from Liverpool to Leverkusen was actually structured as an initial £30m guaranteed fee with a further £5m in achievable add-ons, and he put pen to paper on a five-year contract at the BayArena.
The same report noted that the deal included a Liverpool buy-back clause, giving the Merseyside club the option to re-sign him at a pre-agreed fee further down the line.
That detail adds an intriguing layer to Arsenal's current pursuit, given Liverpool themselves retain a mechanism to bring Quansah back to Anfield rather than see him move across London instead.
Separately, ESPN reported at the time that Leverkusen were already in talks with Liverpool over Quansah, despite the defender having only signed a new five-year contract at Anfield the previous October before the move eventually went through.
Meanwhile, The Athletic had previously reported the fee being discussed was just over €40m, and that completing the deal would have set a club-record transfer fee for Leverkusen.
Why Quansah would suit Arsenal's needs
With William Saliba sidelined through injury, Arsenal are short of cover at centre-back, but that is not the only defensive problem facing Arteta, with right-back also proving a persistent headache.
Jurrien Timber is still working his way back from the groin issue that has largely kept him out of action since March, while Ben White's injury history offers little reassurance either. It is worth recalling that Cristhian Mosquera was forced to start Arsenal's Champions League final defeat out of position at right-back, a match in which he conceded a penalty in Budapest.
That defensive shortfall is why Arsenal have also been tracking Ezri Konsa, though Aston Villa's valuation of the 28-year-old has proved a sticking point. Our earlier coverage detailed how Aston Villa's stars are reportedly bracing for Konsa to leave this summer as Arsenal intensify their defensive search following setbacks elsewhere in the market.
At 23, Quansah's England team-mate could plausibly plug both defensive gaps at once and may ultimately represent better long-term value than Konsa.
Although he is a centre-back by trade, Quansah lined up on the right of a back three for Leverkusen last season, a role that persuaded Thomas Tuchel to select him as one of England's right-back options this summer ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
His pass map for Leverkusen shows he frequently occupied what is traditionally a right-back zone for the Bundesliga club, meaning that once Saliba is back to full fitness alongside Gabriel at the heart of Arsenal's defence, Quansah would still have a clear route into the side elsewhere.
Arsenal's full-back role, however, is a different beast to the conventional version, with Timber and Riccardo Calafiori regularly asked to invert into midfield, at times pushing so far forward they effectively function as auxiliary centre-forwards. Yet Arteta has already shown with another former Leverkusen player, Piero Hincapie, that more traditionally defensive full-backs can still be accommodated within his system.
This defensive rebuild forms part of a broader summer of activity at the Emirates. As we reported previously, Arsenal are lining up a new central defender after Saliba's back injury, while simultaneously closing in on Bruno Guimaraes and exploring a deal for Vinicius Junior.
What happens next
One unresolved question hanging over any Arsenal move is Liverpool's buy-back option. According to the Express, Liverpool had until the end of May to activate that clause, a deadline that would already have passed by now, though other reporting suggests the buy-back mechanism could still become relevant in a future reunion scenario.
For now, Arsenal's task is to persuade Leverkusen to sell a player they clearly value highly, on a contract with four years still to run, while continuing to weigh up alternatives such as Konsa as their defensive rebuild takes shape.
