Aston Villa’s director of football operations Damià Vidagany has hailed Unai Emery as one of the best managers in the world.
The Aston Villa director has been speaking to Marca about the Spanish manager after he led them to the Champions League in his first full season in charge.
Emery has been in charge at Villa Park since November 2022, arriving to replace Steven Gerrard in charge with the club fearing relegation from the Premier League.
Those fears are long since gone, though, with the former Villarreal boss leading them to 44 wins in 82 games in all competitions to date.
Their impressive performances under him have seen Aston Villa qualify for the Europa Conference League last season and then qualify for the Champions League this season, the first time in 42 years.
“In Spain unfortunately it is not Emery’s heritage that everything becomes a meme,” he said.
“In Spain Rafa Nadal has been criticised for cleaning up mud in floods. Spain is a very disrespectful country, there is a sector of people who think they can insult anyone.
“With the number of titles he has won, he is now one of the seven or eight coaches in the world. He has always achieved his goals at every club he has been at. In Spain, either you were born into the Barça culture, or it seems to invalidate you to coach Barça, or you’ve gone through Real Madrid which gives you a turbo boost in your reputation.
“If one day he lands at one of the two clubs he will do well and he will be unanimously recognised with the worth that he is recognised around the world.”
