It is the question to strike fear into the heart of every true Aston Villa fan. Yes, what should happen if or when another club – a so-called “bigger” club – comes calling for the services of Unai Emery.
In the Premier League, a certain Manchester club are ailing and have seen all too well what a Catalan coach can do with the success of their close city neighbours.
Further afield, you do not lower the colours of the likes of Bayern Munich without sparking admiring glances from elite European clubs. They may not show their hand tomorrow, or the next day, but they will know Emery’s pedigree and his worth – and why he would be a prime catch.
So what do Villa do to ensure the man who has done most to revive the club’s fortunes remains at B6, happy to take the Lions on to the next level rather than being lured away to another project?
It is a subject debated by our Claret and Blue podcast duo of Mat Kendrick and Dan Rolinson, a topic prompted by a Villa fan asking the very question most prefer not to think about – what is the minimum a club could offer right now to lure Unai Emery away from Aston Villa?
Here is what Mat and Dan had to say… amid an admission that irrational fears surrounding Emery’s future are perhaps “a kind of Brummie thing”…
Dan : We’re asked this fairly regularly, what happens after Unai Emery?
Mat : Well that’s always been my thing hasn’t it – that I can’t fully enjoy it [the revolution at Villa] because I’m just going to be worried about what will happen when he’s gone.
Dan : Well that’s just such a shame isn’t it?
Mat : Yeah, I think it’s a bit of a kind of Brummie thing as well, to be honest! I think he’s ultra ambitious, but I also think he doesn’t want things handed on a plate. I think he knows the value of work, the value of time.
“We know Unai is such a good fit, but not only have the club recruited him, they’ve recruited a team around him. We’ve got feeder clubs that Unai’s got an interest in too, so I’m not sure you get the perfect laboratory conditions that he’s got at Aston Villa elsewhere to be honest, which is probably our best way of keeping him. I think it would be too political for other clubs to hand over the keys to the shop, the way that we’ve done it.
Listen, we won’t want to get egg on our face and this blows up sooner than we’d like, but the problem you’ve got is there might be a club that’s underachieving at the moment. Let’s say Manchester United. Why would you go there when Villa are in a stronger position than them currently?
But a club that is a Manchester City or a Real Madrid, a club that are serial winners, is that even a challenge for Emery, who’s been the master of taking the underdogs and getting them to punch harder and punch higher than they necessarily think they should? Going to a super club, would that provide the challenge Emery seeks?
These super clubs are that way for a reason, because they probably have an infrastructure that is already in place. All they need to do then is just take a manager off a peg and put him in there.
“I do think all the elements that we’ve got at the moment, the stars have aligned perfectly to make Emery absolutely right for Aston Villa and Aston Villa absolutely right for him. Long may it continue.
Dan : He wants to win something. He wants to be in Europe consistently, so we’re just getting started here rather than just coming to the end and us losing Emery.”
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