Aston Villa may need to prepare themselves for potential interest in Unai Emery in from Bayern Munich after Julian Nagelsmann’s decision to stay with Germany.
That’s at least according to Fussball Transfers, who say he will be on the shortlist at Bayern and ahead of Brighton’s Roberto de Zerbi to boot.
Bayern received the latest blow in their search for Thomas Tuchel’s replacement this week when Nagelsmann, who they had reportedly been considering bringing back after sacking him just last year, decided to extend his contract with Germany.
That was effectively a no to Bayern and means both he and Xabi Alonso, who had been another leading candidate to replace Tuchel, have effectively turned them down.
That’s left the German giants needing to look at other targets as Plan A and Plan B have now been ruled out.
There are plenty of candidates to look at it and Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is one of them, particularly as he continues to impress at Villa Park.
He’s done wonders at the club since arriving towards the end of 2022 and currently has the fourth in the Premier League and into the Europa Conference League quarterfinals.
That, coupled with his impressive CV as it is, could make him a firm candidate and he would certainly be ahead of De Zerbi, who has been heavily linked since Tuchel announced his intended departure.
It’s only speculation at this point and obviously Aston Villa would fight tooth and nail to keep the Basque coach in the event of a bid, while it’s also questionable whether he’d want it anyway given the support he’s been given and past experiences at big clubs.
The idea isn’t completely dead in Bavaria, though, so it’s something to keep an eye on moving forwards.
