Aston Villa hire Unai Emery: Former PSG, Arsenal boss tasked with replacing Steven Gerrard

Less than a week after moving on from Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa have announced that Unai Emery will be the club’s next head coach. After deciding not to head to Newcastle United last year while Villarreal were in the knockout stages of Champions League, Emery didn’t turn down another chance to return to the Premier League after a spell with Arsenal from 2018-2019. He leaves Villarreal as Villa paid a €6 million release clause for his signature. 

Emery has been a successful manager winning the Europa League four times during his career, but during his time with Arsenal and PSG he wasn’t able to replicate continental success. This won’t be an issue for an Aston Villa side that needs to establish a culture similar to what Emery did in Spain with Villarreal before even thinking about European qualification. 

The Yellow Submarine are a team that was able to adopt Emery’s tactics defending with a plan and hitting teams on the counter when given a chance, but as they showed in Champions League, they were able to play on the front foot too hitting the opposition with a high press to get ahead quickly in a surprising run to the semifinals last season.

Fans will be concerned with Emery’s Arsenal record where he won 43, drew 15, and lost 20 matches but both his spell at Arsenal and PSG are different than what he will be asked to do at Aston Villa. If the players are willing to buy into the system, they’ll be able to quickly speed away from the relegation zone as they’re currently only out of the bottom three by three points.

Emery has managed over 900 games during a lengthy career and is expected to take over on Nov. 1 after clearing his work permit. What’s important is that Aston Villa will need to give him time as they already have moved on from Dean Smith and Gerrard within 12 months.