Ezri Konsa responds to first England call-up: ‘It was simply an issue of when’

Ezri Konsa responds to first England call-up: ‘It was simply an issue of when’

Ezri Konsa was consistently certain his England opportunity

would come. The Aston Villa defender, who won the Under-20 World Cup in 2017

and furthermore played for

England Under-21s has been brought into the senior set-up interestingly at 26 years old

for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta on Friday and North Macedonia next Monday.

Konsa was a late call-up close by Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis on Sunday, after James Maddison, Lewis Dunk and Callum Wilson pulled out because of injury.

He told a press conference on Tuesday: “I realized I had a ton to deal with in my game. As of late now, in the last two seasons, we’ve succeeded at Villa and that piece of it has assisted me with turning into the player I am today.

“I realized my opportunity would arrive, yet it was simply a question of when. I was patient, and I’m glad and all of us are truly blissful.

“I’ve generally had faith in myself, consistently supported myself. I’m truly partaking in my football now right now and the rest is dealing with itself.”

Inquired as to whether he saw the Euros as a sensible objective, Konsa said: “I believe that is each player’s objective, to go to significant competitions and play for your country. So that is most certainly at the forefront of my thoughts and most certainly something I anticipate doing.”

Konsa – who depicted talk in the past of him possibly changing devotion to Portugal as “simply reports” – has been praised in a message on Instagram on his hit-up by former England captain John Terry.

Terry, who worked with Konsa as a coach at Estate, expressed: “Congrats @ezrikonsa. So glad for you mate, you have been amazing and thus predictable throughout recent years and completely merit this. Appreciate it, Ez… Simply the beginning.”

Furthermore, Konsa said: “It implies a ton coming from a legend like John Terry.

“I worked with him for a long time and he truly helped my game. I used to pose him a ton of inquiries on how he had the option to keep up with playing at such an undeniable level, and he offered me a ton of guidance I most certainly took that on and it’s assisted me with turning into the player I’m.

“He was in contact with me and sent me a decent message. He just said congrats, that I really want to appreciate it and act naturally.”

On the second he got a warning that Gareth Southgate had hit him up, Konsa said: “I was driving home from the match on Sunday (Villa’s 3-1 win against Fulham) and I and the missus were looking at having a little break, disappearing – and afterwards two minutes after the fact I wound up getting the call!

“It was a strange inclination, it didn’t actually soak in until I returned home. I think my missus was crying a tad, she was more energized than me. I’d prefer to be here in any case, so it’s fine.”

Midfielder Jude Bellingham and defender Levi Colwill are the furthest down-the-line pair to pull out from the crew after they passed on games for Real Madrid and Chelsea separately throughout the end of the week with shoulder issues.

Get more related news on https://dailysportnews.co.uk/