Unai Emery has taken Aston Villa to new heights and seen his stock soar in the process with admiring looks from elsewhere, including Manchester United.
Unai Emery has been linked with a move to Manchester United but will be hoping his club Aston Villa remain in the Champions League places.
Aston Villa would not like an outsider to say it, but Unai Emery feels they could soon find themselves in a situation akin to no-man’s land after four years at the Midlands club.
There is no hiding the ambition that exists within the four walls of Villa Park and last season’s Champions League play saw them climb heights not reached in the modern era.
Most people, rightly, blame it on one man. He wasn’t good enough at Arsenal, but he’s a man who has won more European trophies than anyone in the last decade and a half.
Emery probably never imagined that by taking Villa this far, there would be more debate about whether he was making the most of his resources or not. He took over a team that was languishing in 13th place but quickly found itself on an upward trajectory. This downplays the idea of a new manager’s bounce.
Villa then progressed into the top four, beating Bayern Munich and PSG in the Champions League, but the Parisians ended up beating them in two games. Emery basically had the freedom of the city and was half claret and half blue anyway and felt like he was walking on water.
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His success in Europe hurt his domestic ambitions, with Villa missing out on a return to the Champions League on the final day of the season. Now the club and its manager, perhaps more than many other teams, need a return to Europe’s top table. But Emery is a man who clearly doesn’t feel Villa are in the situation they are in right now.
Some may find this infuriating, given the team boasts Emi Martinez, England sensation Morgan Rodgers, and World Cup-winning goalkeepers such as Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins. However, Emery himself felt that many of his Premier League rivals were better equipped than themselves.
Expressing dissatisfaction in public is always risky. Emery has more power and authority than most managers in the top flight, but his comments after the defeat to Everton at Villa Park in January seemed like those of a man who may feel he has done all he can.
Aston Villa play in the Champions League for the first time under Unai Emery
“We are not a top-five contender. We are not a contender yet. There are other teams that have more potential than us,” he said.
The early-season form that culminated in a stoppage-time win over Arsenal at Villa Park and led to very quiet talk that the title race between the two might actually be a three-team affair has disappeared.
With four wins in 13 games, the team has gone from outsiders to a team aiming to win the title. They were desperately hoping that their own mistakes would not cost them a spot in the Champions League. On Christmas Day, Emery must have quietly thought of it as the greatest gift.
Manager Unai Emery has benefited the most from managers Morgan Rodgers and others, and he has excelled under his management.
Make no mistake, the teams that have finished 7th, 4th, and 6th in recent seasons are definitely top-five candidates. If they had finished around the one-off top five, perhaps Emery’s comments would have had some validity. However, recent history shows Villa are a team capable of being in the upper echelons of the division from start to finish.
Among their rivals in the top five are Manchester United, who are seen as favorites to finish third after their strong form following Ruben Amorim. The Red Devils recently defeated Emery’s side 3-1 at Old Trafford. Chelsea’s drop in form comes after they beat Villa on their own patch and means there is a six-point gap between Villa and a potential Europa League rather than the Champions League.
With Emery away at Old Trafford, United bosses must have been keeping an eye on the visitors. Despite Michael Carrick’s impressive performance, there is still a possibility that they will look elsewhere for a manager next season. And for many, Emery should be at the top of the list.
He may not say so, but there’s definitely an itch that needs scratching. Whether you agree with it or not, there is a narrative that suggests Emery is good at clubs that sit in the second group of their respective leagues, but falls short when working under the weight of expectations.
Unai Emery could end up having another rift with Europe’s giants after underwhelming performances with Arsenal and PSG
His success with Sevilla led to a hat-trick in the Europa League, but he failed to win the title. The Spanish side is by no means an annual challenger. The same could be said for Villarreal, another team he won the Europa League with without doing enough to really trouble the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The same goes for Villa, a club with huge pedigree and tradition but ultimately languishing in the second tier for the past decade and haven’t won a major trophy since 1996.
His previous two clubs, both recognized as powerhouses, were PSG and Arsenal. Despite winning the trophy in Paris, he fell short and became the first player in his time in Qatar to miss out on the title despite spending a full season at the Parc des Princes. After failing to break into the top four, he spent less than 18 months at Arsenal.
An impressive performance on Manchester’s red side would not only strengthen Villa’s Champions League hopes but also cause the likes of Sir Jim Ratcliffe to sit up and take notice. In fact, three consecutive years of below-average performances at Old Trafford won’t do much for his chances.
Emery is unlikely to care, but he will be concerned if Villa don’t finish in the top five – and the riches that come with that. It seems unthinkable that the Spaniard will not develop a rift with one of Europe’s elite at some point in the future. No one knows when that will be, but there is no doubt that he is making Villa more than the sum of their parts. The question he has to ask himself is how long he can keep it up.
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