Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has been handed a welcome boost with Ezri Konsa among the squad that has travelled to Australia for our pre-season tour.
The 24-year-old sustained a knee injury in May, with Gerrard confirming just days later that Konsa would be sidelined until August.
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Although the Villa defender didn’t have a great season last year by his high standards, it’s certainly a blow to see him working on his recovery as opposed to being at full fitness ready for the pre-season schedule.
However, as seen in the image below, Konsa has travelled to Australia for our pre-season tour for the next week or so, and he was captured doing some ball work as well as any rehabilitation that he is continuing in order to make a full and swift recovery.
Time will tell if he is able to feature in Australia with games against Leeds Utd, Brisbane Roar and Man Utd ahead, but ultimately it’s a boost for Villa and Gerrard to see him going through the process with no setbacks up until now, and it would be a great sight to see him involved at some stage in pre-season even if in a minimal role.
Villa kick-start the new Premier League campaign against Bournemouth on August 6, with Tyrone Mings and summer signing Diego Carlos slated to start in the heart of the defence for the season opener.
While we hope to hear an update on Konsa from Gerrard in the coming days, the Villa centre-half will no doubt be targeting a return ahead of schedule and to be pushing for a starting berth sooner rather than later.
Good to see Ezri Konsa make the Australia trip. Hopefully a clear sign that recovery all going to plan and on schedule, ideal if he's available/in contention for start of the season.#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/s5YPtgXtub
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) July 12, 2022