Aston Villa have beaten Manchester City and Arsenal in their last two games. The club, which returned to the Premier League in 2019, is third in the best league in the world. What’s going on there? Crucially involved in the soaring: a long-term Euroleague winner, two ex-Leverkusen players and the good old offside.
As late as the summer of 2016, the sporting realities of Aston Villa and Unai Emery couldn’t be further apart. Aston Villa has just been relegated from the Premier League with no chance. The 1982 European Cup winners say goodbye to the English House of Lords in last place.
Unai Emery, on the other hand, has reached the top. As the new circus director in Paris, he is supposed to finally drive the billion-dollar ensemble to success in the premier class. He comes from Seville with the recommendation of three Euroleague trophies in three years. But in Paris the Spaniard’s lucky streak breaks. In the first year, the stars from the French capital failed dramatically at FC Barcelona (the Catalans overturned a 0-4 defeat in the first leg thanks to a 6-1 win in the second leg), and in the following season Real Madrid gave Emery’s team no chance ( 1:3, 1:2). And it’s not just internationally that things are going poorly.
In 2016/17, another team, AS Monaco (led by a promising teenager named Kylian Mbappé), even won the French league. The championship title the following year can no longer save Emery. It’s over after just two years. Coming in as the eternal Europa League winner, Emery now also has the St. Germain aura of eternal failure in the premier class. Because the round of 16 with PSG was Emery’s zenith, he had never made it further in the competition of Europe’s best. In 2010/11 he also managed to reach the first knockout round with Valencia, and three other CL seasons ended in the group phase.
Successor to the legendary figure
The first and last meeting between Unai Emery and Aston Villa will take place on September 22, 2019. After three years of trying, Villa finally returned to the Premier League in the summer – and, far away from the green lawn, completely owned by billionaires Nassef Sawiri and Wes Eden , more precisely to her company NSWE. Emery joined Arsenal as the direct successor to legendary London figure Arsène Wenger. The “Gunners” win the game 3-2, but Emery is fired a short time later. Aston Villa narrowly avoided direct relegation in 17th place at the end of the season.
Emery may have fallen victim to his predecessor’s gigantic footsteps, but after parting ways with Arsenal, the door to Europe’s biggest clubs is closed for him for now. His next stop therefore looks like a step backwards. He is drawn to his Spanish homeland, more precisely to FC Villarreal. In his first season he won the Europa League with the club in the summer of 2021. So far, so Emery. In the semi-finals he beat Arsenal FC, and the team only won the final against Manchester United on penalties. It is not only the first international cup, it is the first title that Villarreal has ever won (if you ignore victories in the UI Cup.)
Emery beats “one of the best in the world”
This makes it clear: Emery is experiencing another Champions League season. And what a. After surviving the group phase, Villarreal eliminated Juventus Turin. FC Bayern is waiting in the quarter-finals. Unai Emery is enthusiastic about Munich’s new coach, Julian Nagelsmann. He describes him as “one of the best coaches in the world”, praises the “overwhelming footballing youth” that he embodies with his team – and throws him out of the tournament. The international press agrees: Emery out-coached Nagelsmann. It only ends in the semi-finals. Liverpool FC is one size too big. The premier class is obviously no longer there.
According to Emery, he “found a part of my heart again” in Villarreal. These words are not spoken at the title celebration of the Europa League triumph or after the semi-final coup in the premier class, but at his farewell. Emery will not be fired, but will be poached. After the outstanding work he does in Spain, Aston Villa will serve a release clause in Emery’s contract in October 2022. After pushing the limits of what was possible in Villarreal, he moved to the fourteenth-placed team in the Premier League for six million euros.
The key to the city
He had actually already secured a big name for himself. The former Liverpool legend hired Steven Gerrard as coach around a year earlier. Fired up by his good performances as coach of Glasgow Rangers, Gerrard’s name was already being heard around Anfield as the future successor to Jürgen Klopp. But the intermediate step became a stumbling block. Gerrard spent 40 games on the sidelines and averaged just 1.18 points. The hope that the former world-class midfielder will also become a top coach has been dealt a severe blow. Gerrard is currently training in Saudi Arabia. And so Aston Villa secured the big name they were longing for a year late.
The aforementioned Nassef Sawiri and Wes Edens seem to have copied a successful recipe from the industry giants from Liverpool and Manchester (i.e. City). Sign a top coach, give him the key to the city – and wait. Little by little, the club has the structures rebuilt according to the wishes of the new trainer. Before his first day at work, Unai Emery calls Damian Vidagany, with whom he already worked in Valencia. Vidagany is to become Emery’s assistant. Without knowing the salary or his role, he accepts. This changes noticeably frequently.
From being the coach’s assistant, he initially becomes “chief of staff”, and now, as “Aston Villa’s director of football”, he is even an essential part of the club’s management. Vidagany still sees his job the same way he did in his early days. “Everyone here knows that a strong coach makes a strong club. So it’s my job to stay in touch with everyone. From the owner, to the academy, to the kit manager,” he tells “The Athletic”. He is popular within the club and his past as a journalist also ensures him a certain reputation in the media.
“Messi of sports directors”
Ramon Rodriguez “Monchi” Verdejo, who has already worked very successfully with Emery as sports director of Sevilla FC, has also joined the team since this summer. At the Andalusian club he further developed youth work, including Sergio Ramos and Jesus Navas becoming professionals during his era. Monchi’s scouts discovered national players like Dani Alves, Carlos Bacca and Kevin Gameiro. Jose Castro, president of Sevilla FC, calls him the “Messi of sports directors”. Because under his leadership, the club collects high transfer fees for self-developed or discovered players, but still remains successful in sports.
Martinez celebrated the award as the best goalkeeper of the World Cup in his own way.
(Photo: REUTERS)
The owners of Aston Villas don’t just know high transfer fees from hearsay. Villa breaks the transfer record for their dream player Moussa Diaby. The club transfers 55 million euros to Bayer Leverkusen. But Villa’s upswing can by no means be explained by the signing of stars. The squad doesn’t have the really big names. Ex-Bayern magician Philippe Coutinho was handed over to Qatar. The best-known player is probably Emiliano Martínez, goalkeeper for the Argentine national team (exactly, the one in the much-discussed photo after the final).
The offside trap is nerve-wracking the league
In addition to Diaby, Leon Bailey is another ex-Leverkusen player in the squad. Under Emery he seems to be able to build on his Werkself form this season. In any case, Emery helps many players take the “next step” they want everywhere. Douglas Luiz, the Brazilian six-man, and Ollie Watkins, an English striker who has 16 goal involvements after 16 league games, particularly stand out.
Tailoring the entire club to Unai Emery and his confidants is a risk. Given the limited financial resources compared to the top of the league, this is probably something Villa will have to accept. And the team is also willing to take risks on the field. The team defends extremely well and repeatedly relies on their offside trap. No one in Europe is better in this specialized discipline. The opposing strikers run into the forbidden zone against Villa. Tottenham striker Heung-Min Son scored three goals in a duel with the eager defense at the end of November – all of which were disallowed for offside.
“I’ll never achieve that again”
Third in the league, confidently made it into the knockout round in the Conference League: the only negative headline of the season so far has been the jerseys. The players complain that they absorb too much sweat and are soaking wet after just ten minutes. Worries that they would like to have at Manchester United or Chelsea FC.
United are eight points behind Aston Villa, Chelsea are 17 points behind. Villa’s success makes the lack of competence of the two Premier League problem children abundantly clear. Over the entire 2023 calendar year, only Manchester City collected more points than Unai Emery’s team. Pep Guardiola’s world team recently lost 1-0 at Villa Park, and a week later Arsenal FC also had to leave Birmingham with zero points.
It is the 15th home win in a row. It is a record for the club, only Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool FC have achieved more consecutive victories in their own living room. The coach is also aware of the historical dimension. “I have never achieved that before and I will never achieve that again in my future as a coach,” says Emery when asked about the fantastic series. Fittingly, the stadium will soon be expanded. With Aston Villa’s fairytale rise, the club should have no problems filling the new places.