Unai Emery knows a golden situation better than most. After all, past experiences will have given him a keen sense for what’s good—and what’s not.
He’ll have learned more from his trying spells at Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain than he perhaps did during fruitful, trophy-laden ones at Sevilla and Villarreal. Over the course of a wild, winding decade in management—taking him from Spain to England via a pitstop in Russia, Emery has found his coaching sweetspot: Aston Villa.
It’s a club that has not only given him that fiercely desired second crack at the Premier League, but furnished him with every possible tool to do so. Every request has been acquiesced, from hiring half of Villarreal’s coaching staff to appointing old friend Monchi in a chief operations role. Emery owns a Basque football club, Real Union, which officially partnered with Aston Villa in November. He has the playing squad he wants, at the size he prefers, and has stronger input on transfers than most managers in 2024.
All of this lays the foundations for complete faith and trust, which he has paid back with a truly magical 18 months at Villa Park. Since Emery was appointed, Villa have taken 115 Premier League points from 59 matches, good for 1.9 points per game. It firmly wedges them into position as England’s fourth-best team over a span of a year and a half—clear of Manchester United (102), Newcastle United (97) and Tottenham (94) in one direction, but a way off Liverpool (125), Arsenal (127) and Manchester City (130) in the other.
The remarkable thing about this is where Emery picked Villa up from: 16th in the table, just a point above the relegation zone. He started off with the club’s first home league win against Manchester United since 1995 and then kept on going, sneaking into 7th place to secure European football for the 2023-24 season.
This campaign has been more of the same, unlocking sensational performances from players all over the pitch. Ollie Watkins has the most goal contributions (31) in the entire league and is the only player to have hit double figures for both goals and assists in the division. Leon Bailey is one assist away from joining him in that feat.
Further back, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has spent more time (5,621 seconds) on the ball than anyone else in the division, proving crucial with his feet as well as his hands, while roaming centre-back Pau Torres has carried the ball a whopping 5,410 yards, the third-furthest in the league.
It’s a club in a fantastic place, potentially set to elevate this season to legendary status; they’re in the driving seat for a top-four finish, and therefore access to next season’s UEFA Champions League, and are set to contest a European semi-final next week as the spectre of the Conference League trophy looms ever larger. Regardless of whether they get over the line, the position Emery has put them in in such a short space of time almost defies belief.
Since Unai Emery's appointment in October 2022, only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have won more Premier League points than Aston Villa (112).
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) April 23, 2024
The 52-year-old has committed his future to #AVFC with a new three-year contract, per @David_Ornstein. 🔏 pic.twitter.com/4Gv9xP8bVM
“The Championship to the Champions League (potentially) in six seasons—that must be some kind of record right?” quipped co-owner Wes Edens this week. He’s one of two men responsible for seeking out Emery, installing him as head coach, and now keeping him until at least 2027 thanks to a fresh contract and commitment. (It’s not a record—Leicester City’s three-year journey from Championship to Premier League champions in 2016 will surely never be beaten—but it’s still a trajectory to be incredibly proud of.)
Emery’s firm commitment to continue that trajectory, sealed well ahead of the summer, will ease tension for supporters in what looks set to be a bloodbath of a managerial market. Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are all on the hunt, Manchester United may well be too, and Emery’s name had already been mentioned in conjunction with three of those clubs.
Perhaps he wouldn’t have entertained them anyway. After all, the level of control Emery enjoys at Villa is not replicable at any superclub, and through trial and error over these past 10 years, it’s clear he’s found the correct level of club and the correct personality of squad to work with.
Give him that, and he can set about changing fortunes fast—just ask Sevilla, Villarreal and now Aston Villa.
