Aston Villa are willing to sell defender Ezri Konsa this summer, according to Football Insider.
The lowdown
Villa paid £12m to sign Konsa from Brentford in July 2019 and he has gone on to make 92 appearances for the club, including 24 so far this season.
The 24-year-old can be regarded as one of the first names on the team sheet given that only injury and suspension have kept him out of Villa’s Premier League starting line-up.
However, a report from Football Insider this week suggested that Steven Gerrard is determined to land a new marquee centre-back in the form of Liverpool’s Joe Gomez.
The latest
A Villa source has told Football Insider that Konsa’s future is ‘up in the air’ ahead of the upcoming transfer window.
Gerrard apparently has doubts over whether the English centre-back is reliable or consistent enough to build around, and ‘money will be set aside’ to strengthen the heart of Villa’s defence ahead of the 2022/23 season.
The verdict
Are Gerrard’s fears reflected in Konsa’s performance figures?
The 24-year-old has won 71% of his ground duels and 58% of his aerial battles, and he has only made one error leading to an opposition shot so far this season (via SofaScore).
Discipline may be a concern, though. The red card which sidelined him for the defeats against Newcastle and Watford was his second of the campaign.
Nevertheless, this news may still come as a surprise to Villa fans, given that Konsa is a mainstay of the team who was nominated for their Fans’ Footballer of the Year Award in 2021.
Intriguingly, The Athletic have previously reported that Liverpool are admirers of the £22.5m-rated defender, so you might wonder if an exchange involving Gomez could be possible.
In other news, Villa have scouted this midfielder