Why Unai Emery is right to turn down Manchester United and stick with Aston Villa | Football

It’s a great quirk of Premier League scheduling that Manchester United welcome Aston Villa to Old Trafford this weekend, after a week in which Jamie Carragher’s suggestion that Villa manager Unai Emery would jump at the chance to move to United prompted a legal threat from the midlands club, an apology from the outspoken pundit and an announcement late on Wednesday that Emery and his bosses had ‘positive discussions establishing a clear commitment beyond 2029 for the joint development of the club’.

In simpler terms, hands off.

A new contract is reportedly imminent for the Spaniard, and who could possibly blame Emery for sticking around at a club that have repeatedly backed him, given him more control than he’ll have anywhere else and whose fans worship him for delivering their first trophy in 30 years last season.

The alternative? Joining a constant catastrophe that everyone agrees needs far more than just a new manager to put back together.

While Emery is going nowhere, the whole affair does raise questions about football’s food chain, something which definitely does exist but is clearly going through some changes right now.

Managers will always believe they are the right person to take a once great club and bring back the glory days, and being the one to do so is an intoxicating idea.

But Emery has been here before and was burned by his experience at Arsenal where a collection of expensive failed transfers and unmotivated senior players gave him the worst possible platform to build from. Sound familiar?

All roads still lead to Real Madrid for players but the money involved in Premier League football means simply being a relatively successful English club puts you closer to the top of the chain than ever before, and given United’s penchant for finding new lows every season, a move from Villa north to Manchester is at best a sideways move these days – just ask Youri Tielemans.

Also, given the relative state of flux that many of the ‘big six’ find themselves in these days, there’s an opportunity for Emery and Villa to elbow their way in and become a more established fixture towards the top of the league.

United are joined by Spurs in their ability to self-implode, Chelsea are chaotic at the best of times, Liverpool are still just about managing the transition to a Jurgen Klopp-less existence and Manchester City are unlikely to be challenging for titles in the near future, depending on impending sanctions.

Only Arsenal are properly set up for consistent success, and Villa clearly believe trusting in Emery is the best way to eventually get themselves into the title conversation.

There are pitfalls to their approach – if Emery does someday get his head turned by a massive paycheck in Saudi Arabia or Real Madrid do come calling, he may still move on and leave the club as a ship without a sail, which is why clubs like Brighton and Brentford treat their managers as cogs in a well-oiled system.

United fans had some temporary relief midweek with their emotional comeback against Roma in the Champions League and may well go into the international break feeling good if they manage to squeeze out a win on Sunday, but regardless of the result, Emery is in the right place.

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