Since leaving Villarreal last October to take over as the new manager of Aston Villa, Unai Emery’s side have been in sensational form. Only Manchester City (74) have won more points than the Villains (59) in the Premier League since his appointment, which is testament to the job he is doing.
Relevo spoke exclusively to Emery on the almost-one year anniversary of his appointment as Aston Villa manager, and the ex-Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal head coach believes where he is managing now is the strongest league in the world.
“On a competitive level, the Premier League is the strongest league. When you’re here, you feel it.
“There is a certain selection of the best in the Premier League. There are clubs like Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Juventus or AC Milan that are still capable of having a lot of strength in their leagues, but here there are clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea that are able to do that too, and the mid-table teams also have a very high capacity to be able to sign the best players from other leagues. So, twenty very competitive teams are made.”
Emery is working alongside Monchi again, after the former Sevilla Sporting Director joined the sporting department at Aston Villa during the summer. He expressed his delight at being reunited with Monchi, and also commented on Mateu Alemany almost joining instead.
“Monchi has so much experience in football, with knowledge, with victories rather than defeats, with a winning experience at European level, with experience also in Italy. For him to open himself up to England allow him to export himself, and try to contribute in England everything he has lived and consolidated at Sevilla.
“With Mateu Alemany we wanted to build something that we are now building with Monchi, with whom I had something gained: three and a half years of total connection at Sevilla.”
Emery will hope that this is just the start for him at Aston Villa, and if so, it could be a very fruitful time for the Birmingham-based side,
