Ezri Konsa pledged his long-term future to Aston Villa in September because he believes the club is only going in one direction.

The centre-back signed a five year deal two months ago, despite already being tied down until the summer of 2026. His new and improved deal prolongs his stay at the club by a further 24 months after joining Villa in the summer of 2019 from Brentford.

The 26-year-old has gone on to become a mainstay in the heart of defence under three managers, Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and now Unai Emery. Konsa finally received recognition for his excellent form by earning a senior England call-up earlier this week ahead of the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

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He has played in Villa’s last 50 Premier League games and rarely puts a foot wrong for his club. Asked about interest in him from elsewhere before he penned a new Villa contract, Konsa claimed his full focus was and is only on helping Villa continue the progress they’ve made over the past year.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Villa player right now,” Konsa admitted. “The direction the club is going in is really good.

“From last season we’ve shown that. We managed to get the Europa Conference League and we want to go one step ahead this season. Hopefully we can finish higher than we did last season.

“The direction we are going in is really good and everyone at Villa is really enjoying their football. The chemistry around the ground and the training ground is really good, it is really positive. We are all close, like a tight little family. Even if it is away we are all excited to play.”

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