Aston Villa have lost a number of key players this summer.
Amadou Onana is out for the season with an ACL injury. Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers have departed for Manchester United and Chelsea, respectively. Ollie Watkins may yet leave in the final knockings of the window. They’ll have a new number one to adjust to following Zion Suzuki’s arrival. Ezri Konsa’s impending move to Arsenal could be the hardest to swallow.
On Wednesday, transfer guru David Ornstein posted that the Gunners were closing in on the England star. Arsenal have been courting Konsa for much of the summer as head coach Mikel Arteta pushed to sign a new defender. That the 28-year-old can play right-back, too, is an added bonus.
The issue now is that Villa need to dip into the market once more to strengthen. The Villans sought to replace Tielemans with Joao Gomes. Alejandro Garnacho moved to Villa Park on loan following Rogers’ Stamford Bridge switch. Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka is expected to join from West Ham, but Villa must sign a centre-back to ease Konsa’s exit.
In this article, we’ll cover:
The style of centre-back Aston Villa need
They crucially need someone who can get the ball rolling from defence. A centre-back capable of instigating attacks from defence. Konsa, after all, managed a better pass accuracy (95.5%) than any other player in the Premier League last season. A 97% success rate was the best at the 2026 World Cup.
It’s vital, then, that Villa bring in a defender who abides by Unai Emery’s ball-playing demands. Shortly after it was confirmed that Konsa would depart for Arsenal, Villa were linked with a move for Chelsea’s Tosin Adarabioyo.
The former Fulham man managed just 16 league appearances last season, eight of which were from the outset. Villa fans may have been disappointed to read of links for the 28-year-old as a Konsa replacement. But is there method to the madness?
Tosin’s a handy distributor
Tosin’s best quality is his distribution. While he’s come in for criticism for his sub-par showings over the last 12 months in west London, Tosin is a composed defender in possession. For a turbulent Chelsea side, it’s hardly a shock that his stock dipped in the last year.
However, he could prove an effective ball-playing option for Villa and Emery. Admittedly from a smaller sample size, Tosin averaged more passes per 90 (86.4) than Konsa (62.1) in the Premier League last season. While the latter boasted the super pass accuracy, Tosin still managed a modest 90.5% in England’s top tier.
Crucially, though, was that Tosin sought to get the ball upfield from defence where possible. He didn’t just retain possession for the sake of it. Rather, Tosin did his utmost to play out from defence and into midfield.
Indeed, he made more forward passes per 90 (24.3) than Konsa (17.2) in the 2025/26 Premier League season. This despite Chelsea (57.7%) returning a better possession average than Villa (53.5%). It meant that Tosin could, feasibly, have looked to keep the ball for the sake of it.
Rather, he actively looked to get the ball forward in order to boost Chelsea’s chances of hurting a team on the counter. With 30% of the Blues’ attacks coming through the middle of the pitch, the second highest such proportion, Tosin did all he could for his side in terms of build-up.
Off the ball work stands out
Off the ball, too, Tosin performed effectively to help ease pressure on the Chelsea goal. The Blues man fared better than Konsa for clearances (7.6 to 3.7), interceptions (1.1 to 0.7), aerial duels contested (6.7 to 1.7) and ground duels contested per 90 (2.9 to 2.8). Granted, Konsa boasted the better ground duel success rate (72.3% to 68%), but it served to highlight Tosin’s proactiveness out of possession.
The commendable reading of the game will aid a Villa side that, despite an impressive season, were shipping 12.9 shots per 90 in 2025/26. The Villans still gave up plenty of chances, which means the defenders still needed to be on hand to repel any attacking threats.
Tosin clearly has defensive knowhow to ease pressure on his side’s goal. The same will apply for Villa should they firm up their rumoured interest in the 6ft5in centre-back.
The lack of fanfare surrounding a potential move for Tosin is understandable. He’s dropped off radars in recent months. Villa were a little stung by their decision to loan Axel Disasi from Chelsea in February 2025. However, Tosin would be a better fit than the Frenchman for Emery.
Konsa’s eventual move to Arsenal will hurt, that goes without saying. He’s been a mainstay in the Villa backline ever since his 2019 arrival from Brentford. Tosin, though, could prove a handy replacement, especially when you consider Emery’s track-record for improving players.