Comment from BirminghamLive’s Keith Wales as the Aston Villa head coach is linked with the Manchester United job as Erik ten Hag comes under pressure at Old Trafford after a poor start to the season
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been linked with a move to Old Trafford to replace Erik ten Hag as manager of Manchester United
Anyone thinking Unai Emery would snub Manchester United to stay at his “beloved” Aston Villa needs to give their head a wobble.
Sitting in the stands, football is all about passion, emotion and unremitting loyalty. In the dugout, it is more about pragmatism, opportunism … and looking after number one.
No doubt there is some club back in Spain that does have an emotional attachment for the Villa head coach, but work in the UK is all about furthering his career. That translates to winning trophies, the game’s glittering prizes, or restoring a sleeping giant to past glories. If you can do both, then so much the better.
Arsenal were the first club to lure Emery to the Premier League, and during his time in North London he took the Gunners to a European final (they lost the 2019 Europa League showpiece to Chelsea) and fifth place in the top-flight. In doing so, Arsenal won 11 in a row – their best run then since 2007 – and went unbeaten for 22 games. But all that counted for nothing when Arsenal made a poor start to the following campaign and Emery was shown the door after a little more than 18 months at the Emirates.