I watched Modou Keba Cisse vs Porto, here's why Aston Villa should be excited
Moudou Keba Cisse featured for Aston Villa once again as they faced Porto on Saturday.
The 20-year-old is a fresh face at Villa Park having signed from Austrian outfit LASK last summer.
He is now finally available to feature in claret and blue as Unai Emery's side get their pre-season underway.
The Senegalese defender started against Walsall on Tuesday as the Villans secured a 5-0 win.
A trip to Estadio do Dragao was next as the B6 outfit fell to a 2-1 defeat against Porto.
Cisse started once again and certainly proved a point in claret and blue.
How did Modou Keba Cisse perform vs Porto?
It was a mix of experience and youth for the B6 outfit as they faced the Portuguese giants.
The 2005-born ace represented the young gun in the backline as he was joined by Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen and Marco Bizot.
It's fair to say that he didn't look out of place as he proved himself to be a cool head at the back.
He was consistently looking to get on the ball and regularly looked to get it forward where possible.
The above example saw him find Luka Lynch in the middle of the park, before the youngster turned and started a counter attack, all from Cisse's progressive thinking.
That would be all well and good if he couldn't deal with the pressure of playing against a top side.
He proved that he can deal with it, no problem, as at one moment a pass looked set to sell him short.
It didn't phase the defender as he stepped in allowed the ball to roll across his body before funnelling the ball out wide to Cash.
That certainly caught my eye and should encourage Emery ahead of a season in the Premier League.
His calm nature was then offset for an element of no nonsense defending which is also a useful asset as it proves he knows when and when not to play.
That was shown by a stellar stand tackle to deny a potential counter attack.
He showed superb pace to get to the ball and then the quality to pull off a perfect challenge.
That all contributed to an excellent performance that could see Villa have a perfect alternative for Ezri Konsa.
Could Cisse be the next Ezri Konsa for Aston Villa?
It actually feels somewhat like Cisse was more polished against Porto than the England international was in his early Villa days.
The centre-back came in from Brentford in 2019 and had to work to become the regular that he became.
He made just 24 Premier League starts in his debut campaign and chipped in with just 18 tackles and could only contribute to four clean sheets.
Konsa conceded 39 goals that year and certainly had room for improvement.
It feels based on his early Villa performances that Cisse could replicate those sorts of numbers if given the chance.
Emery will now be the deciding factor, but the youngster could be worth a chance to prove if he can be the next big thing in B6.