Unai Emery already worth £13million to Aston Villa, early arrival could have banked £60million Champions League windfall
Unai Emery resurrected the Aston Villa season on the pitch when he took over from flagging former manager Steven Gerrard just before the World Cup, and it should be worth millions.
However, the rescue job has been so effective it might have been so much more if the miserable league run down the stretch under the former Rangers boss last season had moved the club to make a change in the summer, based on the Spaniard’s record at Villa Park.
Few were calling for it at the time, and the club’s board backed Gerrard with the eye-catching arrivals of Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara, to go along with the permanent signing of the manager’s former Liverpool teammate Philippe Coutinho.
Expectations were high during the preseason, and despite the inconsistent league form earlier in 2022 it was unexpected for the wheels to fall off the Gerrard reign so completely to start this season, to the point where relegation was becoming a genuine concern.
The club have been proven emphatically right to make the managerial change, and they appear to have struck gold with Emery, 51, who already looks set to repay a large portion of what it would have cost Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris to sack the ex-England captain and bring in the former Arsenal boss.
According to The Athletic (12 May) Premier League prize money was worth around £2.2million for each place up the table a team finished last season.
When Gerrard was fired on 21 October, a day after the dismal 3-0 defeat at Fulham, the Villans were 17th in the table with just nine points from 11 games.
Since “Matchweek 15” when Emery took over and beat Manchester United 3-1 on 6 November the club are third in the Premier League form table, albeit having played a game or two more than some teams, according to the calculator on Transfermarkt.
That is good enough for 11th in the actual league table on 38 points – Aaron Danks winning once in caretaker charge – having played a game fewer than most over the whole season so far, with Aston Villa the last club outside of a relegation battle they looked destined for under the previous manager and unlikely to drop any lower with a gap of 11 points to Crystal Palace.
Based on last season’s predicted prize money the rise from 17th to 11th would be good enough for an increase of £13.2million.
Yet, born out over an entire season, the form under former Villarreal boss Emery actually being good enough for Champions League qualification would be worth another £30.8million more in cash from the English top flight, plus the qualification fee to Europe’s top competition.
That alone was worth £13.48million to clubs in this season’s group stage, before any match bonuses, while all teams in the competition will also get a share of the £258.7million broadcasting money, although it is not divided equally [Mirror, 6 September].
Even now the idea of Villa suddenly gatecrashing the Champions League sounds outlandish, but they would be well in the hunt based on form stats.
With wins over Manchester United, Tottenham and high-flying Brighton under the four-time Europa League winner, an Emery Lions side would be a decent bet to pick up a result or two in a European Cup group stage to add to their financial boost further.
The financial return from the competition could feasibly reach £25million via the three avenues, which on top of the £37million-plus Premier League prize money would be a windfall of well over £60million.
Moot as it may be given Gerrard came into the season in a fairly secure position, fans and owners could certainly be forgiven for wondering what might have been if the switch had been made a few months sooner.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are angling to fight Newcastle for a sought-after free transfer this summer but it could be a mistake.