There is certainly a bit of joy mixed with horror among Arsenal fans that their old boss Unai Emery has returned to the Premier League. – He was brought in after a successful period at Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2018 as a replacement for manager legend Arsène Wenger.
Emery who is a formidable manager did not make it work and a year later in November 2019 he was fired, Pep Guardiala’s apprentice Mikel Arteta was brought in after Fredrik Ljungberg had held the reins for a while.
Aston Villa just sacked Steven Gerrard. Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino were early candidates, but they both declined thanks pending bigger assignments.
Then earlier today Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim emerged as an option, but that fell apart when Aston Villa had to pay ten million euros to buy the Portuguese out of contract.
Aston Villa is delighted to announce the appointment of Unai Emery as the club’s new Head Coach. 🟣
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 24, 2022
Aston Villa were ready to activate Emery’s six million euro buyout clause. It was significantly less and Emery is, after all, a more high-profile manager.
Emery has been at Villarreal since 2020. He also has a past at Valencia.
