Arsenal's William Saliba replacements: How John Stones, Ezri Konsa and Zeno Debast compare

The 2026 World Cup proved to be the straw that - almost literally - broke William Saliba's back, as Arsenal have confirmed that their defensive mainstay will be sidelined for a prolonged period following a serious flare-up of his injury.

The France international had been soldiering on through the pain for months, but he exacerbated his issue against Spain in the Mundial semi-finals, and Arsenal released a worrying update on Saliba's injury earlier this week.

The 25-year-old does not require an operation, and Arsenal did not disclose how long he would be missing for, but there is an expectation that he will spend months on the treatment table.

With Ben White and Jurrien Timber also on the comeback trail from long-term problems, Arsenal are in the market for a direct Saliba replacement, and three names stand out.

The Gunners are reportedly considering a shock move for ex-Manchester City defender John Stones, who could be a cheaper choice than Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa, whom there is a significant gap in valuation over.

Outside of the Premier League, Arsenal have apparently been offered the services of Sporting Lisbon's Zeno Debast, who at £34m would not burn a huge hole in the Gunners' pocket.

Here, Sports Mole carries out a statistical comparison into Debast, Stones and Konsa, using data from their respective leagues for the 2025-26 season.

John Stones vs. Ezri Konsa vs. Zeno Debast: Defending

First and foremost, the disparity in minutes between Stones, Konsa and Debast cannot be overlooked; Konsa made 34 Premier League appearances in the 2025-26 season, more than Stones (9) and Debast (17) put together.

However, the Aston Villa man has therefore already scored a point based on his availability and match fitness, compared to a seldom-used Stones and a Debast who has only just recovered from a moderate thigh problem.

Nevertheless, Stones more than stands out in the air, having won 84.6% of his aerial duels in the 2025-26 league season, compared to Konsa's 57.1% and Debast's paltry total of 39.3% - the latter statistic comes as a particular surprise given the Belgian is the tallest of the trio at 6ft 3in.

The margins are finer when it comes to ground duels between Debast and Konsa, the former of whom won two per 90 minutes, compared to 2.1 for the England international.

Meanwhile, Stones and Debast both registered 3.9 recoveries per game - Konsa comes in slightly lower at 3.3 - but the Villa man did not pick up a single Premier League booking last season, even if he was sent off once.

John Stones vs. Ezri Konsa vs. Zeno Debast: Passing/possession/playmaking

Helming the defence for a Primeira Liga-chasing Sporting side, Debast is the only member of the trio to have set up a goal in the top flight last season; the Belgian provided two assists from six chances created.

However, Konsa registered five key passes of his own, without claiming one assist - numbers that say more about the quality of the finishes from his Villa teammates rather than his own playmaking ability.

Furthermore, the Lions defender boasts the best passing accuracy of the trio with 95.51% - Stones sits at 93.4% and Debast at 91.2% - although the Sporting man was the most effective when picking out a teammate from range, completing 69.2% of his long passes.

Debast can also claim to be the most progressive of the three, having made 25 forward passes per 90 minutes compared to Stones's 21 and Konsa's 17, while the Man City man registered the most backwards passes per 90 with 5.2.

The Belgium international's numbers can be caveated by him simply having the ball at his feet more often, though, as he took 91.1 touches per 90 minutes in the 2025-26 Primeira Liga; meanwhile, Stones and Konsa both took 72 per 90 in the Premier League.

John Stones vs. Ezri Konsa vs. Zeno Debast: Injury history

Injury Record Comparison: Stones vs Konsa vs Debast

Games missed through injury, by season • 2021-22 to 2025-26

5 seasons

Games missed through injury by John Stones, Ezri Konsa and Zeno Debast in each season from 2021-22 to 2025-26, with injury type and, where applicable, a breakdown of games missed per injury type shown in parentheses.
Player	Games missed: 2021-22	Games missed: 2022-23	Games missed: 2023-24	Games missed: 2024-25	Games missed: 2025-26	Total
John Stones	6(hamstring)	12(hamstring)	14(hip (11), ankle (3))	34(hamstring (18), foot (10), unspecified (5))	24(thigh (18), calf (3), muscle (3))	90
Zeno Debast	13(foot)	2(ankle (1), muscle (1))	1(calf)	0	35(knee (26), hamstring (9))	51
Ezri Konsa	2(knee)	0	4(knee)	3(hip (1), hamstring (2))	0	9

Figures show total games missed through injury in each season, with the specific injury (or injuries) responsible shown in parentheses. Where more than one injury caused absences in a season, the number of games missed per injury is given in brackets. Players ranked by total games missed, 2021-22–2025-26.

With little attacking data to go off, it would be nonsensical to compare Stones, Debast and Konsa's goalscoring and shooting numbers from the 2025-26 season, but the opposite is true for their respective injury histories.

Timber and White always have a perpetual question mark hanging over their heads, and Arteta will be wary of overloading Cristhian Mosquera, who has a clean injury history barring a minor ankle problem but is still just 22 years old.

However, Konsa's fitness record makes for especially pleasing reading for those in red and white, as over the past five seasons, the 28-year-old has only missed nine matches for club and country due to injury.

Furthermore, the Aston Villa man has never missed more than four games in a row, and he stayed completely injury-free in the 2025-26 season, only missing matches through suspension or tactical selections.

In contrast, Stones was missing for 24 club and country matches in 2025-26, mostly owing to a serious thigh injury he sustained over the winter, and he has sat out a total of 90 games since the start of 2021-22.

Meanwhile, Debast was absent for a staggering 35 games in 2025-26 due to hamstring and knee problems, more than double the amount of matches he had missed in the previous four years combined - just 16 from 2021-22 to 2024-25.