Unai Emery tips Ezri Konsa to follow in footsteps of Arsenal and Man City stars
Aston Villa and England defender Ezri Konsa has established himself as the club's starting right-back, having initially been reluctant to make the switch from central defence
by Neil Moxley · The MirrorUnai Emery says Ezri Konsa may follow the trend and become a top-class right-back.
Aston Villa’s boss said there is a process in play with teams such as Manchester City and Arsenal where centre-halves are being re-deployed. And he believes that Konsa may also slip into the role.
The England international is a recognised centre-back but he reverted to right-back at half-time during Villa’s romp in Switzerland against Young Boys. He did so several times last season when Matty Cash was injured. And has done so again.
Emery said: “Konsa’s potential is even better than he is showing now - he’s a very good player. His capacity - physically, technically and tactically - is high.
“I’ve spoken a lot with him about playing right-back. Last year, he preferred to play as a centre-back, getting wider and being successful. My challenge is to get the best performances we can with the structure we have.
“One of the options at our disposal is to play with centre-backs - three or four of them - if we need to. This process - in terms like Arsenal and Manchester City - with centre-backs playing wider gives us a new structure.”
Ben White at Arsenal along with Josko Gvardiol and John Stones at Manchester City have all filled in at full-back, despite being recognised centre-halves. “Ezri started this year very well. He is smiling, he is positive and has started playing as a centre-back, very good.
“I spoke with him about starting to play with Diego Carlos a little bit on the right side, trying to build up from there. His response was fantastic. He played the second half against Young Boys very focused to play in this position.
"Last year he played there but he wasn't 100 per cent focused like I wanted. Sometimes he did, in some important matches, against Arsenal and Manchester City.
“But he was not finishing the season convinced to play there and be successful in this position. But he can do it and on Tuesday he did.”
Emery does have the option to rotate, given the midweek exertions. Ollie Watkins limped off but is ‘100 per cent ready’ according to Villa’s boss who has a choice over whether to start Konsa at right-back.
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He may also opt to start either Ian Maatsen, a £38m capture who has not made his full debut or Ross Barkley who impressed during the second half against Everton. Wolves have just one point from their opening four fixtures but Emery said Villa will need to be on guard.
He added: “They have a good coach, team and players. They beat Chelsea and Tottenham away last year and played well against us here and competed well. It’s the same coach in charge and they did well against Nottingham Forest and deserved more against Newcastle.”
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