Unai Emery enters the room inside Bodymoor Heath training ground and approaches the computer screen for our Zoom call. Dressed in his training gear with slick black hair, the Aston Villa manager looks relaxed. It is a day off in England, so it’s forgivable to excuse his calm demeanor, a contrast to his energetic touchline persona. But then again, this is how we almost always perceive the 51-year-old before and after matches. Tranquil, focused.
This focus is a result of a learning curve and a chance for redemption. Emery’s return to the English Premier League is not only a professional challenge, it’s a personal one, too. It’s a chance for him to amend the mistakes from his first time coaching in the league when he signed with Arsenal in 2018, taking over the job of replacing legendary club manager Arsene Wenger, a man who embodied the North London club for 22 years.
Emery was up for the challenge, but several factors did not work in his favor. It’s not to say he didn’t make mistakes. Removing Granit Xhaka‘s captaincy in favor of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, managing a frosty relationship with Mesut Ozil and communication issues due to language barriers were all difficult situations. In the end, the timing wasn’t right. It was a club in transition, looking to find a successor to their French auteur, and Emery was not the one to do it at that time.
Fast-forward to today, and Emery’s second stint in the Premier League has lifted Villa from a relegation battle to fighting for a chance to play European football next season. When his appointment was announced after Steven Gerrard’s departure last October, the club was out of the relegation zone due only to goals scored. Now, in the space of six months, Villa sit in eighth place (54 points) with three matches remaining.
Over our conversation, Emery’s obsession with personal stories and how football fans are connected to the game comes to the fore, not least because of his family’s relationship to the game.
“I am from a traditional football family. From Real Union of Irun, in the north of Spain,” says Emery, who is also the owner of Union, who play in the third tier of Spanish football. “They are one of the founding members of LaLiga. My grandfather was a goalkeeper. A cup winner. My father also followed this footballing tradition.”
Emery coached in Spain, Russia and France before coming to the Premier League. The first chapter in English football served as a lesson, after which he won a record fourth Europa League title and reached a semifinal appearance in the Champions League with Villarreal. This time around with Villa, he feels he doesn’t just know the league better, he knows the culture, too.
