Aston Villa have excelled this season, but their performances under Dean Smith was always bound to spark interest in key players.
Jack Grealish is the star of the show, but defender Ezri Konsa is now attracting admiring glances from Premier League rivals.
The Athletic claim that Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both want to sign Konsa this summer, whilst he has also put himself on the England radar.
Konsa, 23, is a boyhood Spurs fan who may well fancy a dream move to North London, though non-Villa fans may not know all that much about him.
The defender emerged with Charlton Athletic and Brentford, playing his way up to the Premier League and now forming a strong partnership with Tyrone Mings.
If fans were looking for a comparison for Konsa, then now-Addicks boss Lee Bowyer offered one up in 2017, comparing Konsa to Rio Ferdinand.
Konsa then told Four Four Two in May 2018 (p80) that he was really happy with the comparison, admitting that he did see similarities too having grown up idolising Ferdinand.
“I’m really happy,” said Konsa. “He played with Rio and he sees something in me that he spotted in Rio. I looked up to Rio Ferdinand, and I’d like to say there are similarities in our style. He was composed on the ball, I’m composed on the ball,” he added.
Ferdinand was a hero at Manchester United following a £30million move from Leeds United at the of 23 – the same as Konsa right now.
If Spurs and Liverpool want to sign Konsa, then they may well have to pay a similar kind of fee and then hope to see Konsa take the same steps forward that Ferdinand took way back in 2002.
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