There may have been concern inside Aston Villa as soon as it emerged that Thomas Tuchel would be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season. Alongside Liverpool and Barcelona, another top European club was entering the manager market, and Unai Emery was bound to be hot property.
Sure enough, there were subsequently reports from Germany that Bayern are watching Emery, having seen his abilities first-hand when he knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage as the manager of Villarreal in 2021/22.
The reigning Bundesliga champions would love to appoint Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso, the man who looks set to dethrone them this season, but Liverpool are already in "advanced discussions" ahead of the departure of Jurgen Klopp. Emery is a potential plan-b, alongside former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane and Stuttgart's Sebastian Hoeness. A return for Hansi Flick could also be on the cards.
Emery remains committed to Villa for now
In his daily briefing for Caught Offside, journalist Fabrizio Romano has given his take on the rumours linking Emery to Bayern. The good news for Villa is that the Spaniard remains "100% focused" on the club and isn't currently in talks over any other roles.
He said: “Some reports have suggested that Unai Emery could be considered as the next Bayern Munich boss. This would mean leaving Aston Villa managerless after two seasons in charge of the Premier League club.
“Honestly, I’ve zero on this at the moment, Bayern as well as Barça will be linked with many managers. I already saw many names around, but no decision has been made at all. Unai Emery is a fantastic manager, I think he has improved a lot in recent years but he’s now 100% focused on the Aston Villa project and he’s not speaking to other clubs right now.”
Losing Emery is unthinkable for Villa
It's vital that Villa keep Emery because, quite simply, he's the best thing to happen to the club in years. They have a chance to win their first major silverware since 1996 after reaching the Europa Conference League round of 16, where they'll face Ajax, and they could also qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1983.
Rank
Club
22/23
23/24
Change
1
Liverpool
43
60
+17
2
Aston Villa
37
52
+15
3
West Ham United
23
36*
+13
4
Wolverhampton Wanderers
27
38
+11
5
Bournemouth
21
28*
+7
6
Tottenham Hotspur
45
47*
+2
7
Manchester City
58
59
+1
8
Crystal Palace
27
28
+1
9
Chelsea
35
35*
0
10
Everton
22
21
-1
11
Nottingham Forest
26
24
-2
12
Arsenal
63
58
-5
13
Brighton and Hove Albion
44
39
-5
14
Fulham
39
32
-7
15
Manchester United
52
44
-8
16
Newcastle United
47
37
-10
17
Brentford* 25 games played*
41
25
-16
As you can see in the table above, Emery has overseen a massive improvement from last season after replacing Steven Gerrard in the autumn of 2022. Villa have been in elite-level form since he arrived – they amassed a whopping 82 points from his first 40 league games in charge – but it simply went under the radar last season because they weren't close to the top of the table.
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Emery has led Villa into the top four with an attractive brand of football that has delivered 56 goals so far – an average of 2.15 goals per game. It's on course to be their best season in that regard since 1959/60.
With famous wins against Manchester City and Arsenal under their belt, Villa fans have been enjoying a dream season so far, and they won't want to entertain any thought of the project coming to a premature halt.