Aston Villa Unai Emery praises defender's versatile abilities
Unai Emery believes Ezri Konsa has the potential to be a success at right-back after praising the Villa defender’s versatility.
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The England international played on the flank for the first time this season during the second half of Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Young Boys and the Villa boss is considering keeping him there for today’s visit of Wolves, with Matty Cash still out with a hamstring injury.
Konsa, who has played most of his career at centre-back, regularly switched to right-back last season and Emery thinks he has the skill set to flourish.
He explained: “Last year he was playing there but not 100 per cent focused like I wanted. “Sometimes he did, in some very important matches, against Arsenal and Manchester City.
“But he was not finishing the season really convinced to play there and be successful in this position. Yet he has the capacity to do it and on Tuesday he did.”
Emery revealed he had spoken with Konsa at length about the possibility of playing right-back at length and been impressed by the 26-year-old’s attitude.
Academy product Lamare Bogarde has started the last three matches at right-back but Emery acknowledged both he and summer signing Kosta Nedeljkovic are still adapting to first-team football.
With Tyrone Mings nearing a return after more than a year out through injury, the Villa boss has not ruled out fielding four centre-backs across the backline if required.
He said: “My challenge is to get the best performances with the structure we have and the players we have.
“One of our powers in the structure is to play with the centre-back, even three or four of them, in case we need it.
“The versatility of Konsa is very important. His potential is better even than he is showing.
“He is a very good player. His capacity physically, technically and tactically is a lot. Mentally, we are pushing this year trying to get more from him.
“This year he has started 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.”
