Ezri Konsa
Ezri Konsa has credited the ‘togetherness’ of his Aston Villa team-mates as Dean Smith ’s side step up their preparations for the new Premier League campaign. Konsa enjoyed a stellar second season at Villa last term and helped the club equal its top-flight clean sheet record which Martin O’Neill ’s team had set back in 2010. Alongside another mainstay of Smith’s Villa side, Tyrone Mings, Konsa formed an indispensable partnership with the England international.
Ezri Konsa said: “I think the togetherness of all the lads, everyone’s willing to defend. Everybody wants to put their body on the line and I think the chemistry between us boys at the back is the big thing as well. Our relationship on and off the pitch is something that has helped us get through as well.”
Another big influence on Villa’s change of fortunes at the back has been the signing of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. The Argentine helped Lionel Messi win his first major international honour this summer by performing heroics in penalty shoot-outs and becoming the number one that the South American nation have been crying out for, all after an impressive first year at Villa last season. Martinez joined the club from Arsenal in a deal worth £22m last summer and went from strength to strength last term under the stewardship of Villa goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler.
Ezri Konsa said: “He’s been a great signing for us. Since he signed he got along with all the boys right away, he talks to the back four a lot, he gives us a lot of communication on the pitch. To have people like that with so much confidence, it gives the lads at the back that confidence as well.”
Having played under head coach Smith for three years now, you wouldn’t put it past Konsa to develop even further under a manager who knows him all too well.
Ezri Konsa added: “As a player it’s always good knowing the manager trusts you and has a lot of belief in you. I’ll always be forever grateful for what Dean Smith has done for me and my career, taking me at Brentford, playing me in the Championship for the first time and taking me to the Premier League and giving me my debut in the Premier League.”
