Aston Villa welcomes the experienced Spanish coach back to the Premier League.
In 2021, Unai Emery celebrated the fourth Europa League victory of his career. EPA/AOP
Last week For Steven Gerrard fired Premier League Aston Villa announced on Monday that Spain’s Villarreal coach Unai Emery takes the reins of the team on the first day of November.
Aston Villa did not disclose the length of Emery’s contract or the potential transfer fee it will pay Villarreal to terminate the contract.
Aston Villa gave the boot to Gerrard after the team had won only two of their 11 matches in the English Premier League. In their last match, Aston Villa took a convincing 4–0 victory over Brentford without Gerrard, so the change of coach cheered up the Birmingham people at least for a while.
Emery is already familiar to Premier League followers, as he arrived as Arsenal’s head coach Arsene Wenger’s after retiring from coaching. The coach’s time at Tykkimiehi was ultimately short, as he was fired in his second season.
However, the Spaniard has been in a class of his own in Euro tournaments. In his first season, Emery coached Arsenal to the Europa League final, which the north Londoners eventually lost to Chelsea.
In Villarreal, Emery managed to win the Europa League and take the Yellow Submarine all the way to the semi-finals of the Champions League last season. On their way to the top four, Villarreal beat Juventus and Bayern Munich.
Before his 2016 move to PSG, Emery won the Europa League three times in a row with Sevilla. The Spaniard is indeed the most successful coach in Europe’s second highest club tournament.
Villareal is seventh in LaLiga.