Unai Emery ‘big surprise’ shared as inside stance emerges on Aston Villa exit
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa future has been called into question recently.
Emery has performed an excellent job since being appointed as Aston Villa manager in November 2022.
Villa’s 2-0 win over Newcastle last weekend has his team sitting third in the Premier League, and just four points behind leaders Arsenal.
His work at Villa Park has seen him gain major plaudits from across European football, and Emery was linked with the Chelsea job following Enzo Maresca’s exit at the start of January.
Unai Emery to Real Madrid truth revealed
Having started his coaching career in Spain, Emery left his homeland to take the Aston Villa job in November 2022 after two-and-a-half years in charge of Villarreal.
He’s also managed Spanish sides such as Sevilla, Valencia and Almeria respectively, and is now one of European football’s undisputed top managers.
But, with clubs the size of Arsenal and PSG on his coaching CV, there will be growing fears in the West Midlands that he could be starting to feel as though he’s taken Aston Villa as far as he can.
That’s just speculation at this stage, but what isn’t is Real Madrid’s long-standing interest in appointing Emery as their head coach.
Emery has routinely been linked with taking over Los Blancos during his time in charge at Villa Park, and reports have once again been circulating in recent days that he could be in line to replace Alvaro Arbeloa.
However, speaking via talkSPORT on Friday, Ben Jacobs reported the truth regarding talk of Emery’s potential move to Real Madrid.
“Unai Emery and Real Madrid [rumours] have been around for quite some time,” Jacobs said.
“There’s definitely an appreciation, but we can take the earmuffs off because my understanding is that Unai Emery is really happy at Aston Villa, and it’d be a big surprise I’m told if he departed.”
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Emery may have caught Premier League title bug with Villa
Having built an Aston Villa team that looks capable of winning the Premier League this season, Emery’s stock will undoubtedly be through the roof.
But, if Villa don’t win the title this season, then that could work in their favour in regards to keeping Emery, as he may well not want to leave until he’s at least had another crack at it next season.
Emery will be fully aware of what kind of standing he’d be held in at Villa Park if he was able to deliver a league title for the Villans, whereas at Real Madrid, he would have to do considerably more than that.
Therefore, whilst Madrid would be incredibly tough for any manager to turn down, Emery is onto something potentially legendary with Aston Villa, and that should be enough to keep him around a little while longer.
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