Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CASH WON’T GO CAP IN HAND
DEAN SMITH has warned Gareth Southgate that two of his Aston Villa stars won’t wait forever for England to come calling.
Villa’s boss said the clock was now ticking as far as Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa were concerned, after both received approaches from other national sides. Right-back Cash, 24, is being chased by Poland, while former England Under-21 star Konsa, 23, qualifies for Portugal.
Smith (right) said: “We’re 13 months away from a World Cup and every player will have eyes on it. “Whether that means Matt going with Poland or Ezri going with
Portugal – they still have the opportunity to do that.
“Ezri has been a model of consistency since he got into the first team at Villa.
“He will want to go to Qatar, and both he and Matty will want to give themselves the best chance they can of doing it.
“I believe their first choice would be England.
“If not, they’ll only wait so long before other countries come calling.
“I don’t know when they’ll have a decision to make – Matty has already said that he would like a discussion with me to get my thoughts on it. I’m sure Ezri will want the same. I can give them some advice and guidance but it will be down to them. Only they can make that choice.
“England do have strength in depth. It’s up to those players to carry on doing well for Aston Villa.
“Gareth knows I’m here. He knows I’m always available for him to speak to if he wants to know anything about any of my players.”
Villa head to the
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon after a moraleboosting triumph at Manchester United last week.
Two years ago, this fixture was Villa’s first back in the big time and Smith added: “It will be a good marker for us. I remember the game well. We were beaten 3-1 and we conceded three in the last 17 minutes.
“We took a lot of plaudits from how we played that day but I was very disappointed because I knew how hard it was going to be that first season back in the Premier League.
“We allowed 24 shots on our goal at Tottenham and we were under an awful lot of pressure.
“It set a benchmark for us as to how hard we had to work to win top-flight matches.
“We have progressed since that first match at Spurs – they are one of those teams who we can challenge to get into that top half.”