Unai Emery guided Aston Villa to a 3-1 win over Manchester United in his first game in charge of the club.
Emery spent over a season at Arsenal, between the summer of 2018 and November 2019, before he was shown the exit door. Having taken over the Aston Villa job now, Marca asked him whether there is a ‘personal revenge’ to prove himself in the Premier League.
“I am better prepared to face a new challenge in the Premier League. I already have a year and four months of experience in this league. I think my first year at Arsenal was nice. It was broken by some things that I have identified that I’m now going to try to avoid,” he said.
“I have always had an internal objective of having a new opportunity and coming back better prepared. I think that at Villarreal I have acquired a continuity that has made them call me back to England. It’s more of a challenge than a revenge. I had to accept it as something very professional.”
Time will tell whether the coach will be successful in making sure he doesn’t repeat his Arsenal mistakes at Aston Villa.
Emery spent over two seasons at Villarreal, where he won the Europa League in 2021. Despite having continuity with the Yellow Submarine, Aston Villa were successful in bringing the ex-Arsenal manager to Villa Park.
He has now explained how the English club were able to convince him to leave the La Liga side.
“I had the first meeting with the club’s president, Nassef Sawiris, and he always spoke to me in the first person, but always with the support of his partner, Wesley Edens. He told me about the Aston Villa project, about history, about now and about what he wanted to build and what he had seen in me. Of what I was able to do. He convinced me,” Emery explained.
“He is an ambitious man of his word and has the conviction of the credibility that I have as a coach. He also had the agreement of his partner and of Christian and Johan who are responsible for the day to day [running of the club]. As a coach, I need a figure that looks me in the eye and conveys respect for the coach that I am.
“All the steps I have been taking have been from a professional point of view. In every place I have been, it has been to take a piece of heart. Player and coach. I have always been clear about the step I was taking.
“I need to feel that there is a professional challenge. I was very happy at Villarreal fulfilling professional objectives. There were successes but going out is something professional where I value the challenge.
“I always attend to the one who knocks on my door and then I listen or not. Villa makes me return to the Premier League, challenges me to take steps in such a competitive League. I can build a team to return to Europe.”
