Brentford sell Ezri Konsa to Aston Villa in £12million deal

The 21-year-old will be re-united with Villa boss Dean Smith who signed the defender from Charlton whilst in charge at Brentford 13-months ago.

Konsa missed just three league games for the Bees in his sole season in West London, making 47 appearances in all competitions, scoring once - in the final game of the season against Preston North End.

Konsa’s £12million sale along with Chris Mepham’s departure to Bournemouth for a reported £15million in January would represent a huge profit on the starting defensive pairing of last season where the outlay was just £2million paid to Charlton for Konsa.

The departure of the Charlton Academy product may have been foreseen by the Griffin Park hierarchy as they moved swiftly earlier in the week to capture the signing of defenders Pontus Janssen and Ethan Pinnock from Leeds and Barnsley respectively.

Upon his Villa unveiling Konsa spoke of the lure of playing top-flight football and the attraction of working with his former Bees manager again.

“I am over the moon,” he told AVFC TV.

“To join such a historic, massive club like Aston Villa is great.

“To be honest, I am speechless right now. It’s a dream come true. As a little kid, I always used to dream about playing in the Premier League.

“I’m looking forward to working with Dean and Richard again.

“I enjoyed it with them at Brentford. We had a really good relationship there.

“For me to be here and working with those guys is a good feeling. I am raring to go now.”

“I am looking forward to the challenge of facing the top players in the world.”

Brentford fans, although fond of Konsa and his efforts during his brief spell with the Bees, were all in agreement regarding the deal.