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Ezri Konsa looks set to be announced as an Aston Villa player tomorrow before the club fly to the USA for their training camp.
Words by Mark Jirobe | Follow the writer on Twitter: @VillaMarkPGH
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Aston Villa are set to sign Ezri Konsa from Brentford for a fee in the arena of £12,000,000 – actioning the defender’s release clause. The under-21 England international has risen up the ranks from League One, and only joined Brentford last season. Konsa is known as one of the more appealing youth prospects in the EFL and this move to Villa only shows how coveted the young centre-back is.
The signatures of Kortney Hause, Tyrone Mings and soon to be Ezri Konsa will fill out a defensive core that needed to be rehabilitated badly for Villa’s first season back in the Premier League. Konsa fits very well into the Dean Smith tactical scheme: a quick ball-playing defender who isn’t afraid to push up the pitch to try and create offensive opportunities.
In 42 games for Brentford this past season, Konsa averaged a pass success rate of 87.7% on 2,111 total passes. Konsa is known to have the tactical prowess and pace to break up opposition attacks as well. 50 successful tackles throughout his campaign for Brentford landed him third-most on the team.
Dean Smith and the scouting system in place at Aston Villa seem to be doing some very fine work in the transfer market and the capture of Konsa solidifies that point. Villa supporters were told on multiple occasions that this specific coaching staff wants young, hungry and able players in an effort to play attractive football. Konsa will definitely help that cause and then some with his physical ability and tactical awareness. It would not be cross to make comparisons to Axel Tuanzebe when it comes to Konsa, but by no means is the 21-year-old the finished article. There is potential and room for Konsa to grow as a player and as a person at Aston Villa and every Villa supporter will benefit from that maturation process.
I am uncomfortable with this situation for the last 12 months the scouts board coaching staff and manager are working to a plan (and a good one for a change) . if we are not careful i may break out into optimisme and that has only led to disappointment for far too long . I am not used to us picking new players by tactical and technical ability up until a year ago we did our scouting on football forums and other media hype .