It has been four years since Aston Villa signed Ezri Konsa from Brentford and the ice-cool centre-back has proven to be an underrated figure for the Premier League giants during that time.
Former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith and ex-assistant Richard O’Kelly worked with the 25-year-old at his former club and saw something in the player that would allow him to thrive on domestic football’s biggest stage.
Initially, the 25-year-old didn’t break into the first XI, with Smith opting to push with the centre-back pairing of Tyrone Mings and the now-departed, Bjorn Engles, upon the club’s first season back in England’s top-flight.
But when Konsa’s engine was allowed to run on the silky turf of Villa Park, he started to grow into an ever-reliable player and someone who has near-on everything to his game.
In what was Konsa’s first proper season as a centre-back, the 2020/21 campaign, he helped the Midlands outfit keep 15 clean sheets, alongside his partner in crime, Mings.
But, even then, he wasn’t getting the plaudits the man next to him was getting, including England recognition.
Whilst Mings has deserved it, he has repped the Three Lions on 17 occasions, but some will argue why the man next to him hasn’t even been called up by Gareth Southgate.
A player as calm as the midnight sea, an outstanding reader of the game, excellent in one-on-one duels, aggressive towards his opponents and pace to burn, he needs to get more love from outside of the four walls of Villa Park.
Aside from a certain Liverpudlian stinking the place out, Konsa has faired well under Smith and he has taken his game to the next level under the world-class, Unai Emery.
Deservedly in Europe, and turning 26 in October, as Konsa hits the peak years of his career, he is helping the team climb the table and hit the highest heights they have reached in over a decade.
The aim next season will be to win the Europa Conference League, as well as break into the top six, and if Emery is to guide the club to that, then a player like Konsa is going to be very, very important.
Perhaps that England call, and plaudits from the outside, will come if the Charlton Athletic academy product transcends his domestic form onto the European stage because more people need to talk about the outstanding work he is doing for Villa.
