Unai Emery was very clear in his message.
“I am better prepared now to take on a job in the Premier League,” he said en route to the Champions LeagueThis year, semi-finals were held with Villarreal.
His dismissal occurred at Arsenal in 2019 left Emery with unfinished business in England.
“As a coach, I still want to keep having more experiences and motivations…and I still have that (winning the) Champions League dream,” he said.
Move forward Aston VillaVilla, 50 years old, was offered a platform that he hoped would come his way. Villa must be dragged from the bottom half of the table to make it possible for Villa to move up in the European competitions.
With 12 games already passed, he’ll be expected to start making immediate inroads when he starts work on November 1 following Saturday’s game at Newcastle UnitedAll clubs. Emery turned down the job at St James’s Park in November 2021, to stay at Villarreal, citing the Champions League adventure as more appealing than a relegation battle, which at the time Newcastle were heavily involved in.
“I thought a lot about the opportunity to return to England, to a serious project,” He told the story The AthleticApril of this year. “I liked the idea, but I was also grateful to Villarreal for the opportunity they gave me.”
He had been contemplating his decision to stay for 12 months. This is why Villa was so easy to choose.
Emery was captivated by the plans of Nassef Sawiris, Wes Edens, for the club. He knew it was the right time and accepted the challenge after hearing from his family.
Multiple interviews were conducted and CEO Christian Purslow flew out to Spain after Villa’s 4-0 win over BrentfordTo continue discussions. The final talks with Jorge Mendes, agent, went faster than expected. Purslow is known in the industry as a man in a hurry and he was able to thrash out a deal, which includes paying Villarreal a £5.25million release clause, in time to announce Emery as the new manager less than four days after Steven Gerrard’s brutal but inevitable dismissal.
Since taking over Villa in August 2018, Purslow, NSWE, and Purslow have demonstrated that they mean business. High-profile appointments often require swift transitions.
Dean Smith was appointed as Steve Bruce’s replacement seven days after his sacking. Five days after Smith’s departure, Gerrard was replaced by Johan Lange as the sporting director. This happened just three days before Jesus Garcia Pitarch’s 2020 exit was confirmed. Villa always executes a plan in a timely manner.
They gauged whether Mauricio Pochettino would be interested in this job and had a list of others under consideration including Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim. Emery however quickly rose to the top. His European pedigree, knowledge of the Premier League and his ability to adapt quickly made him the perfect choice.
There aren’t many clubs in England outside of the established big-six who could have tempted Emery to join, but Villa have serious pulling power under this ownership structure and are able to act decisively when putting together deals.
Emery celebrates the Europa League trophy win after defeating Manchester United in the final. (Photo: MAJA HITIJ/AFP via Getty Images).
Incrediblely, the threat of the club supporting the table was present at the beginning of negotiations. They could have finished last in the division if Villa had lost to Brentford on Sunday. But Aaron Danks, caretaker manager, and Neil Cutler, helped to save the club by leading them to a 4-0 win.
They will keep the fort until the Newcastle match, when Emery will take over as the leader. Emery has a delayed start due to paperwork regarding his work permit.
Danks and Cutler are still unsure of the makeup of Cutler’s backroom team.
Both have not been informed what the future holds, and they are in limbo until they get clarity. Danks, who was hired from Anderlecht in July 2021, is a well-respected coach who is liked by the players but wasn’t heavily involved under Gerrard.
Cutler is a well-respected goalkeeper and captain in his field. He has been with the club for four seasons. Javi Garcia is Emery’s goalkeeping instructor. He has accompanied Emery to his four last jobs in football.
The new regime’s achievements will decide the mood from the stands After Gerrard’s resignation, Purslow is now in control. For the first time in Purslow’s four years at the club, he was beginning to come under some external heat but the strength of this new appointment has offered a timely boost.
Emery — who wants his teams to be strong physically and tactically flexible — is firmly set on rebuilding his reputation in England.
He was a manager with serious momentum before he moved to London in the summer of 2018, first by making Valencia clearly the third-best team in La Liga behind Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Jose Mourinho’s Real MadridThen, leading SevillaTo an unprecedented three consecutive Europa League2014 trophies
He won seven of the 10 available trophy in two years at Paris Saint-Germain. However, he was eliminated from the Champions League last 16 by Barcelona. He had won the first leg in Paris, 4-0, then Real Madrid in March 2018. He’s worked with world-class superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar and showed he can deliver titles even if the elusive one slipped by in France.
Arsenal thought long and hard about appointing him as Arsene Wenger’s replacement. Although it seemed wise at first, things quickly went wrong and ended up in a disastrous mess.
A point off third in April 2019 and on course for a Europa League final, Arsenal looked set to return to the Champions League in Emery’s first season only to finish fifth and lose that final in Azerbaijan 4-1 to Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea.
Three defeats in seven days – against Crystal Palace, WolvesAnd Leicester – then a draw with Brighton cost them top four finish, while that loss in Baku denied them the Europa League (and a place in next season’s Champions League).
During the appointment of Mesut Ozil, there were problems with the star player. Granit XhakaAs captain, it was controversial among both team-mates as well as supporters.
He was fired after just 16 months of being in charge. Like Gerrard, Emery’s last job in England ended with vociferous calls for his sacking from the stands.
He became a figure of fun with some particularly unfair focus on Emery’s language skills and accent.
Often, in his video sessions with players, he couldn’t be as clear and concise with the instructions he delivered in a second language.
Addressing the issue earlier this year, he said: “I had a decent level, although I needed to improve. When results are bad it’s not the same. It’s not possible to explain the situation with sufficient linguistic depth. And take ‘good ebening’: OK, it’s ‘good evening’, but when I said ‘good ebening’ and won it was fun; when we were losing it was a disgrace.”
Emery’s argument was he never felt truly supported internally at Arsenal when the going got tough and also didn’t have the necessary authority to make the decisions to take the club in the right direction.
His sole focus on coaching contrasted with predecessor Arsene Wenger’s more holistic approach and left him isolated. Chief executive Ivan Gazidis left six months on from Emery’s appointment to take the same role at AC Milan. After just over one year, Sven Mislintat, the head of recruitment, resigned. Raul Sanllehi became the head of football relationships two years later. Emery was sacked in that time, having failed to create a strong base within the club.
However, he left Spain after being mocked at Arsenal and fought to rebuild his reputation. He then returns to England with the spring in his step.
Emery while he was in charge at Arsenal (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images).
In a statement, Villarreal were quick to highlight that Emery has “gone down in history” with his achievements. With a population of over 50,000, the club had always been above their weight but never won a trophy until Emery came along.
As in his success stories at Valencia, Sevilla and elsewhere, he was given immediate power over transfers, off-pitch issues, and other matters than many of his predecessors at Estadio de la Ceramica. He dealt directly with Fernando Roig on a daily basis, the hands-on club president.
His debut season brought the club’s first final in its 98-year history. In doing so they surpassed 1987-88 Cup-Winners’ Cup victors Mechelen of Belgium (population 86,000) in becoming the smallest of small-town clubs ever to lift a European trophy.
They defeated Arsenal in the Europa League semi finals by 2-1 aggregate, before winning Manchester UnitedA dramatic penalty shootout.
He made the most of players who were not performing well, many of which had been written off by English clubs or sold to raise money.
Former BournemouthForward Arnaut Danjuma flourished under the Spaniards and has seen a significant increase in its value.
“Unai is someone who works with you to improve,” Danjuma told The Athleticearlier in the year. “He has spent so much time with me, helping me, from the day I arrived. Straight away, he spoke English to me when I arrived to help me understand the system, the tactics and how to play. He has been a key factor for me in performing, 100 per cent.”
The ex-Arsenal midfielder, Matteo Guendouzi, described Emery as “so unique”.
When Villarreal won the Europa League, Guendouzi tweeted in support of his old manager, saying: “What a journey! This football…so smart and elegant! You know how you win trophies! Your friendship has allowed me to grow and I feel honored. Words will never be strong enough to qualify your personality, your benevolence and your authenticity in human relationships.”
Last season’s incredible Champions League adventure helped re-establish Emery as one of most-discussed managers in the game as he took Villarreal all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Liverpool.
It was a great journey with brilliant performances and tactical masterclasses. You are the winner JuventusIn the round 16 of the tournament, 4-1 was aggregated. Then came a stunning 2-1 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich.
Emery dedicates so much time to opposition analysis — he famously said that he watched 17 Manchester United games to prepare for the 2021 Europa League final — that every game is different. Villarreal was able to defeat the German giants at their home after beating Bayern 1-0.
While there was some desperate defense, Emery found ways to shock Bayern. Emery instructed his team to slow play from the back. He split his two centre-halves wide, and packed the midfield area full of players. Villarreal was brave and risky but it paid off.
Emery’s attention to detail and commitment to helping his players and teams is well known in football.
“I like to work hard on the details, to know the players well,” he explains. “Difficult games motivate me a lot. You try to surprise the rival coach, for your team to be better than them tactically.”
It’s that kind of tactical nous that Villa hope will help them compete in games against the biggest teams in the league. Villa lost to a big-six established team under Gerrard, and showed no signs that they were moving forward.
Emery has signed a three year contract and will try to unpick those problems slowly to spark the change needed to climb Villa’s table.
Villarreal is in seventh place, where they finished last year after an inconsistent campaign which ended with European Conference League qualification.
Dropping from the Champions League to the Conference League meant the squad’s wage bill had to be cut in the summer and injuries to key attackers Gerard Moreno and Danjuma hurt.
Emery also felt that he had done all he could to improve the club. He knew of Villa’s interest for a few weeks and the chance to return to the Premier League, while the resources available were very attractive.
“Yes, I’m a better coach now, with all my experiences, the lessons learned, everything I have been through,” he said in April. “I still have very important challenges and ambitions. Everybody who works in football must love it and be passionate about it. If you love it as I do (then), the good times, the bad times, you take them on happily.”
Villarreal’s last week was emotional due to the passing of Jose Manuel Llaneza, long-serving and dearly loved vice president of the club.
Emery was not able to leave because of all the things he had experienced together. But, ultimately, he felt that it was right.
Villa is very fortunate to have a manager of his caliber. It’s as exciting as when Martin O’Neill, the man tipped to be Sir Alex Ferguson’s heir, arrived from CelticAnd got Villa back to Europe.
Now, Emery must replicate success and bring back the feeling-good factor.
(Additional reporting: Dermot Corrigan)
(Top photo by Angel Martinez/Getty images)
