With Aston Villa closing in on the signing of Pau Torres this summer, Unai Emery will significantly bolster his competition and depth in defence.
As per The Telegraph, Villa are poised to land the Spanish international’s signature in a £31.5m deal, and given the quality and experience he brings to the group, and being an Emery signing, the expectation would be that he features heavily moving forward.
READ MORE: Exit seems inevitable this summer for Villa ace after difficult stint
There have been a lot of questions, and concern to an extent, for some in terms of what that might mean for Tyrone Mings specifically, but with Diego Carlos also to consider, Ezri Konsa will come under pressure to keep his place too.
The hope is that Carlos has overcome his Achilles injury fully and is back at his previous level, and that the signing of Torres isn’t an admission of any kind behind the scenes that he’s perhaps not quite there.
Villa need competition in every position next season given our hope of playing in excess of 50 games, and Emery has always insisted that he wants to significantly improve his squad with new signings, and he won’t bring in new faces for the sake of it.
So, with Torres, Mings, Carlos and Konsa all set to battle it out for a starting berth in our backline, should the Spaniard’s move go through as expected this week, could Emery tinker with his options?
Ashley Young’s departure has left us an option light at right-back having seen the stalwart deputise for Matty Cash regularly last season, so does that now open the door to Konsa shifting across and playing in that role in a system and set-up that Emery has adopted previously?
Many point to the example of him deploying Juan Foyth at right-back during his time at Villarreal, who then tucks inside and provides defensive cover in a back three, thus allowing his left-back to push forward and provide width and an attacking outlet when in possession.
Konsa has shown an ability to play at right-back for us previously, and while it isn’t perhaps his more natural or preferred position, he could find himself increasingly effective doing that job in Emery’s system as he’ll essentially be on the right side of a back three at times.
While Cash struggled early on under Emery, he impressed prior to his injury setback in the latter stages of last season, as he improved his awareness, positioning and tactical understanding of what Emery was asking of him in that role.
With the focus largely on staying disciplined defensively and shoring things up to maintain our shape, Konsa could prove to be an excellent solution, and thus allow Emery to keep his burgeoning centre-half group happy by ensuring they all have prominent roles moving forward.
Our business in the transfer market between now and the end of the window will certainly give us a better indication of what Emery’s plan is.
