Aston Villa: Ezri Konsa could be set for deserved England minutes as new training images emerge at St George’s Park
Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa could well be gearing up for some deserved minutes for England after being spotted in training with his new international teammates at St George’s Park.
The Villa Park ever-present was handed his first call-up to the senior England setup on Monday (13 November) along with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Manchester City’s Rico Lewis after James Maddison, Lewis Dunk and Callum Wilson were all forced to withdraw through injury.
Konsa joined Villa in the summer of 2019 and has gone on to become a mainstay in the heart of defence and is the only Villa player to have played every league minute this season having also featured in every match last year.
The former Brentford centre-back’s presence has grown since the serious knee injury suffered by Tyrone Mings, his long-standing defensive partner who both were key to Villa’s impressive renaissance after Emery’s appointment going on to finish seventh in the table and qualified for the Europa Conference League.
Konsa has continued his rapid progress has continued on this season, ranking as one of the Premier League’s best centre-backs on the ball, completing 92.4 per cent of his attempted passes, better than 85 per cent of his positional peers have managed in the opening stages of the campaign (Fbref).
Out of possession, the Aston Villa man will rarely enter a duel and not come away with the ball, 92 per cent of defenders lose more challenges than him a match and he tackles an average of 85.7 per cent of players that attempt to carry the ball past him each and every game.
Konsa’s call-up to the international setup has been long overdue and his latest performance for Aston Villa could well have caught Southgate’s exerting his dominance once again in their 3-1 win over Fulham.
Successfully completed 93% of his passes, won three of his five ground duels, and completed 100% of his long balls and he could well be gearing up for some crucial minutes for Southgate after being pictured on Tuesday afternoon in training with the likes of Declan Rice, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka doing a rondo exercise in training (14 November).
And according to BBC Sport journalist Alex Howell (14 November), the Aston Villa defender will be speaking at a England press conference on Tuesday at St George’s Park, already pointing towards a deserved and crucial maiden opportunity for his country.
Only God knows how Konsa will be feeling right now but his performances and influence at Villa Park was certainly warranted the opportunities he’s getting right now, no matter how unexpected it is.
He’s been an integral figure for Emery and it’s about time Southgate realised and acknowledged it.
In other Aston Villa news, one academy wonder has been dealt a crushing blow to his first-team chances after a social media injury update.