Ezri Konsa exclusive: Jack Grealish was great - but Aston Villa were no one-man team

Ezri Konsa is among a core of players looking to push on again this season and also step out of the shadow cast by Jack Grealish, following the former skipper’s £100million British record transfer to Manchester City.

Around halfway through a chat with the centre-back, it becomes clear just how much of a motivating factor that is going to be.

“It is not nice hearing people say you are a one-man team,” says Konsa. “Obviously, Jack was a massive player for us. Everyone knows that.

“He’s the best I have played with in my career, I think he deserves everything which has come his way and I hope he does really well (at City). But I feel now we can prove people wrong. As a team we have loads of great players and everyone works their socks off. If that’s not being recognised, it is not a nice thing to see or hear.

“Those people saying we were a one-man team, now is the time to show them we weren’t. With the additions we have made this summer, I think we’ll do that. I think we’re going to have a really good season.”

If Villa are to improve on last year’s 11th-placed finish, Konsa will likely have a key role to play. Among the club;s standout performers during the 2020-21 campaign, his second season in the Premier League represented something of a breakthrough.

Konsa started 36 of Villa’s 38 matches and was a key component at the heart of a defence which kept 15 clean sheets and was vastly improved on the previous year.

Frequently a standout performer, he was able to eradicate the inconsistency seen during his first year in the Midlands following a £12m move from Brentford in the summer of 2019. In April, his performances were rewarded with a new, five-year contract and is unquestionably a central part of the club’s ambitious, long-term project.

Looking back, Konsa believes the turning point came during the first lockdown following the outbreak of the pandemic, when he had time to reflect on his game.

“When I came back, my mentality had changed,” he says. “I was ready to put my body on the line. I think you saw that last season.”

Along with help from head coach Dean Smith, a key factor in Konsa’s improvement was John Terry, with whom he would spend hours going through clips and seeking advice.

Terry left Villa last month to pursue his own managerial ambitions but though Konsa admits the former assistant boss will be “a big miss”, he believes Villa’s defenders are now in a position where they can push on themselves.

Experience is something he doesn’t lack. Something of an old head on young shoulders, Konsa has a demeanour which matches his calm, drama-free playing style.

Despite still being one of the youngest players in Villa’s team at the age of 23, he has already clocked up more than 200 senior appearances, a statistic he is unaware of until being told early in this interview. A big grin follows.

“I didn’t know that!” he says. “It is weird, when put like that, being only 23 but having played that many games. It is strange thinking I am a senior pro.”

Nevertheless, assuming a greater leadership role is among his aims for the coming season. Konsa captained Villa in their final pre-season friendly against Salernitana, while Aaron Ramsey, one of the club’s promising young players who trained with the first-team during the early weeks of pre-season, referenced him by name when asked which senior players had been particularly helpful.

“All the young lads at Villa, I try and help them, give them advice,” explains Konsa.

“If there is anything they need, they can always come to me because I was in their shoes once, a young lad with a lot of older players, trying to learn and fit in with the team.

“It is hard. Whenever I can I always try and give advice to the young lads so they fit in and feel comfortable.

“Being more of a leader, that is something I want to improve on. The staff are encouraging me too.

“It helps having someone like Tyrone Mings alongside me. He’s someone I can learn off, in terms of leadership skills and developing my own ideas.”

Konsa describes the mood at Villa on the eve of the new season as one of excitement and claims the summer arrivals - Ashley Young, Danny Ings, Leon Bailey, Axel Tuanzebe and record signing Emi Buendia - have been quick to settle.

“It’s an exciting time to be a player here,” he says. “Everyone can see the project and what we are trying to do, the signings we have made. I think we are only going to get better.”

Smith’s men start at Watford tomorrow, their first meeting with the Hornets since a 2-1 win at Villa Park in January last year when Konsa was involved in a dramatic last-kick winner which ultimately proved the difference in the relegation dogfight.

Despite losing credit for the goal due to his goalbound shot taking a nick off Mings’ boot, Konsa still looks back on the moment as among the favourite of his career to date.

“Just to be able to hear the noise at Villa Park of a last-minute winner. It was the best feeling in the world at the time,” he says.

“It isn’t going to be easy on Saturday. We know they are going to be up for it, back in the Premier League with all the fans coming back. We have to be ready for whatever they throw at us.”

Success this season for Villa would be a continuation of last season’s progression and a sustained challenge for European football.

On a personal level, Konsa is dreaming of England having pushed his way into the Three Lions discussion with his performances last term. Watching the success of Gareth Southgate’s team this summer and hearing about it from Mings has only further whetted the appetite.

“It has motivated me even more to kick on and try to push my way into that team,” says Konsa. “My dream has always been to play for England and that is what I want to try and do.

“But first my focus is on Villa, making sure I am doing well. If that reward (with England) comes, then it comes.”