Unai Emery has been manager of Aston Villa for two-and-a-half years – his achievements in that time have written his name into the club’s history.
Taking over a club that had been at the wrong end of the table under predecessor Steven Gerrard, Emery guided Villa into the Champions League in his first full campaign at the helm, after finishing fourth in the Premier League.
During the 2024-25 campaign, Villa have then progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, defeating Bayern Munich along the way.
Unai Emery praised by former star
Emery has enjoyed success at Villa under the ownership of the V Sports group, jointly owned by billionaires Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, and former Villa Park favourite Gabriel Agbonlahor believes they have done much to facilitate the club’s progress.
“What I’ve loved about them is that you don’t see them in the tunnel where the cameras are going to be on, like certain owners,” Agbonlahor said.
“You don’t hear from them, they’re silent owners. That’s what you want as a football club, as a manager.
“What you want is behind closed doors, you meet your owners and you speak to them, but they’re just going to back you. Since they came to the football club, when Aston Villa were in trouble financially from the previous owners, they pumped money into the football club.
“They’ve helped design the training ground to better the facilities. They’ve pumped as much money in as they've been allowed to with PSR rules.
“They went for Unai Emery because Steven Gerrard wasn’t doing the job. They weren’t messing around. They wanted someone who knows how to win trophies, knows how to manage in Europe.”
Real Madrid could be on the look-out for a new manager this summer, with speculation that Carlo Ancelotti, ranked at no.17 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest managers ever, could depart, and Emery has featured on some of the bookmakers’ lists for a replacement.
“Real Madrid is a tough team for a player or a manager to turn down, but what I would say is that at Aston Villa, Emery is not just a manager,” Agbonlahor said, speaking in association with 10bet.
“He’s a chief executive. He’s a sporting director. He’s everything. That club belongs to him.
“Aston Villa have got a sporting director and they’ve got a chief executive, but Unai Emery is more powerful than both of them because they’re his guys.
“So I think what he’s got at Aston Villa, the owners have said to Unai Emery ‘There's Aston Villa, enjoy’.
“To get that power is not common in football clubs. There are always people above you that you might be falling out with.
“Aston Villa is Unai Emery’s football club, and to have that power, to make decisions, to have a stable team, why would you leave?”
