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Aston Villa: European giant to want to appoint Unai Emery as new manager - Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carragher believes some of the biggest clubs in Europe will want to appoint Aston Villa manager Unai Emery very soon after his great work at Villa Park.
Before the Spaniard’s first game in charge back in November 2022, Aston Villa were 16th in the Premier League – one point off the relegation zone.
Since then, Emery has steered them to European qualification last season through a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League and now they are back within a point of the Champions League places after Sunday’s win against West Ham United.
And Carragher, taking to his personal Twitter account on Friday morning, could not hold back in his praise for the Spaniard for the work he’s done at Villa Park but believes some of Europe’s biggest clubs will come knocking.
Sharing his piece for The Telegraph, he posted: “If Unai Emery continues the great work he’s doing, a European giant may want to acquire him. Is it that controversial?”
“I know Villa have won the European Cup but they are not a European giant.
“It’s a pretty positive piece! Up the Villa!”
Indeed the Spaniard has been exceptional at Villa Park and has completely transformed, not only Villa’s standing among the Premier League’s elite but has also revolutionised the football they’re playing on the pitch.
Emery has taken charge of 43 games for the Villans so far, recording an outstanding 26 wins [Transfermarkt] and that record is made even more significant given the increase in the levels of the Premier League and in Europe.
The Spaniard has a win percentage of 57.89% since taking over at Villa Park which is the highest of any Aston Villa manager in the club’s history.
In fact, Pep Guardiola is the only manager to have picked up more wins (25) than Emery in this calendar year [BBC Sport] (20) and only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have accumulated more points in the Premier League since Emery took over in November 2022 which is astonishing.
The Spaniard is doing superb work at Villa Park and such an impact has meant he was rightfully backed during the summer transfer window and basically given the freedom of the club to do what he pleases alongside Aston Villa’s president of football and close friend Monchi.
The former Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain coach has also significantly transformed arguably every single player he’s worked with, not least his start striker Ollie Watkins who has scored 18 Premier League goals under Emery so far and he doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.
The Spaniard throughout his decorated career has been lauded as a reactive and pragmatic coach but that certainly isn’t the case at Villa Park, going on to score 66 Premier League goals in just 35 matches [Transfermarkt]. That’s an average of 1.85 goals per game.
More crucially, Aston Villa have averaged 2.20 points per game in the Premier League this season. If projected over an entire season, that would see Aston Villa finishing the campaign with a whopping 80 points, which should be enough for Champions League qualification.
Given the significance of Emery’s transformation at Villa Park, not finishing in a Europa League or Champions League place would be extremely disappointing, but that just goes to show how much the Spaniard has done in just a year at the club.
Certainly, the big clubs will come calling pretty soon, but the job the Spaniard is doing is one he will feel isn’t complete yet and he looks more hungrier than he ever has been, which is great news for the whole club.
In other Aston Villa news, one senior player now has weeks to save his Villa Park career after a new injury update on one Emery favourite emerged.