Jonty Banks

Sat 11 February 2023 10:30, UK

Unai Emery mapped out Champions League football and “winning a title or two” as his long-term ambitions at Aston Villa in a quite refreshing, if not slightly far-fetched, interview with DAZN.

The Spaniard has overseen a remarkable turnaround at Villa Park since taking the reins from Steven Gerrard in mid-October, winning five of his first eight games at the helm.

Villa’s return to form has prompted a new outlook from much of the fanbase, who consider Emery to be the man to take the club back to the heights of European football. And considering he has won the Europa League four times and come runner-up once, such a dream could become a reality with enough patience.

However, according to Emery, the sky is the limit as he outlandishly set out his ambitions as manager at Villa Park.

He told DAZN (Friday 10 February): “The project I have here right now in my hands is a project that logically is not going to be done from one day to the next, nor from one month to the next, nor from one year to the next. It may need a little more time, but it is clearly with the idea of getting there”.

“What is it to get there? Trying to get to the European places with the ultimate aim of playing in the Champions League and also with the aim of winning a title or two.

“It is true that Aston Villa are not at their best at the moment, but they have the tools and the coach to put pressure on the Premiership’s big boys.

“Logically, today’s picture of Aston Villa is the one we want to gradually progress so that in two years’ time we will have a different picture.”

Such statements are a long stretch, even for the most optimistic Villa supporter, but if Emery is going to succeed in taking the club back into Europe, he must make the most out of the tools at his disposal.

In Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, Villa have owners with an estimated wealth of £9.8 billion [Si] and whose wealth can only be topped by Newcastle, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. Such riches must not be spent in haste, though, and the club must do their due diligence before unleashing its fiscal power in the transfer market.

When Steven Gerrard came into the club as manager, he was given the keys to the safe and allowed to splash the cash immediately upon arrival. The signings of Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne and even Diego Carlos later in the summer were impulse buys and not the shrewd investment of a long-term vision.

With Coutinho now 30 years old and Digne and Carlos a year younger at 29, it very much looked like a series of panic buys for the here and now, instead of the vision that Emery is now looking to instil.

Alongside the deep pockets of Villa’s owners, the club also possesses one of the most prestigious academies in the country. After winning the FA Youth Cup in 2021, the Boydmoor Heath-based academy has gone from strength to strength, but the Spaniard must make the most of the young talent at his disposal.

Cameron Archer, Tim Iroegbunam and Kaine Kesler-Hayden are just a few of the names who have burst onto the scene from the academy in recent times, and Emery must continue to trust these youngsters to make the grade with the first team.

If you look at every successful side in the Premier League from the near past, they have built a solid base in their team through the addition of academy players, with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United and Bukayo Saka at Arsenal being great examples of this.

Combining the financial wealth of the club with the riches of the academy, Emery has the groundwork of a successful Aston Villa side – only if he uses them wisely.

In other Aston Villa news, the club are set to revive interest in an Athletic Bilbao player in the summer after a failed January swoop.