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Aston Villa set for multi-million cash windfall after 'unbelievable' turn of events
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Alan Hutton has hailed Aston Villa’s “unbelievable” achievement for qualifying for the 2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Unai Emery’s side finished seventh in the Premier League, ahead of the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea, to ensure they’ll be playing in European football next term.
Villa will be automatically placed into the play-off round for the Conference League, meaning they’ll have to win a two-legged fixture in order to reach the group stages.
Juventus, Frankfurt and Lille are seeded for the play-off round but at this stage, Villa’s seeding is yet to be confirmed, meaning they could play a European giants early on.
However, if they do reach the group stages, they’ll earn over £3million and could earn more money for winning group-stage matches [Sports Lens].
Hutton is understandably excited and he believes Emery’s appointment was a turning point for his former club.
“It’s been outstanding, unbelievable,” Hutton told Villa News.
“If you think of when Unai Emery came in, they were 16th or 17th and then finished seventh, one point behind Brighton in sixth. We were talking about how Brighton had an amazing season and rightly so. But Villa have to be up there.
“They changed the philosophy of the team, they changed the style of play pretty much instantly.
“Emery’s not really brought in so many players so far. Obviously, he’ll want to have a real look at it in the summer but he’s lifted all of the players at the club.
“He’s got them playing at a high level by working hard.”
In other Aston Villa news, a summer exit is now expected for this big-money Villa player who’s squandered his opportunities.