Ezri Konsa recharged and ready for a new season with Aston Villa

After a superb campaign since the arrival of Unai Emery, Villa can look forward to European football in 2023/24.

And Konsa is putting in the work to be ready for a monumental campaign.

“Yeah, I definitely recharged, it was good,” said the defender when asked how his summer was. “I enjoyed some time with family, which us footballers don’t really get that much time to do that, so it was really nice to do that, but it is good to be back as well.”

Villa returned to the training pitch on Saturday, and Konsa said: “It was tough, but I was already prepared for it.

“We know that pre-season is going to be tough, but first day back was good – a bit of running, can’t complain.”

He added: “It’s very important. Obviously this is all leading up to the opening game of the season so I think for us players it’s all about getting the right fitness in and recovering at the same time.”

Meanwhile, Villa season tickets have sold out – a month ahead of the start of the new Premier League campaign.

The club announced yesterday that sales had reached the ceiling figure of around 30,000 tickets following their revival under Unai Emery.

Villa said a record uptake of renewals had meant there were very few tickets released to those on the waiting list – itself more than 30,000 long.

It is the fourth successive year that season tickets have sold out at Villa Park and comes despite a hike in costs.

The club raised ticket prices by 15 per cent for the upcoming season on top of a 10 per cent rise last season.

However, some supporters in the North Stand found the cost had been hiked by nearly 40 per cent as a result of their seats being put into a higher price band to mirror the cost of the Holte End seats.