Aston Villa manager Unai Emery had admitted he gets more joy from seeing players improving than anything else in football.
Estadio Deportivo cover comments from the Aston Villa manager today made DAZN for their ‘Premier Corner’ alongside presented Eneko Fernández de Garayalde.
The show saw him talking about his career to date, which has seen him establish himself as one of the leading managers in Europe after spells with Lorca Deportiva, UD Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Paris Saint Germain, Arsenal, Villarreal and now Aston Villa.
He’s enjoyed great success with several of those teams, winning the Europa League three times with Sevilla, Ligue 1 and several French domestic trophies at PSG, the Europa League again at Villarreal and as a runner up in the competition with Arsenal in 2019.
He’s now establishing Aston Villa as a top six side in the Premier League and took them into the Champions League last season too.
His success has been recognised on more than one occasion as he’s been La Liga manager of the month, Premier League manager of the month and named manager of the year in 2017-18 by UNFP. He also won the Globe Soccer Awards Coach Career Award in 2022.
None of that matters to him, though, as he insists his greatest joy is seeing players who want to develop and finding the consistency to do so.
“What I like the most and what fulfils me is when the player improves, and that, in addition, the player lets you know it,” he said.
“Not externally, but internally. Players who want to listen to you with a look and want to accept everything you tell them, because they know that with that, they are better.
“There are coaches who have had success in the very short term and then in the long term they have not. Being recognised comes when you are able to have consistency.”
