The job Unai Emery has done with Aston Villa is nothing short of magical.
When the Spaniard took over, the Villans were languishing in 13th place in the Premier League, without a prayer of troubling the big boys at the top of the table.
Since then, Emery’s brought Champions League football back to Villa Park and, based on the current league table, they look like challenging again — but one former Villa player believes it could be a bittersweet tale for the fans.
James Collins backs Unai Emery for top-club interest
James Collins of West Ham United looks dejected during the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium on April 5, 2017 in London, England.
Former West Ham and Villa defender James Collins can't believe the job Emery's done(Image credit: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Former defender James Collins turned out 108 times for the Villans throughout his career and is spellbound by the job Emery has done to turn their fortunes around.
Despite Villa being a massive club, he believes Emery’s work could prompt offers from clubs perceived to be higher up the food chain.
Unai Emery gives instructions from the touchline while head coach of Arsenal
Emery feels somewhat less love at the Emirates(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, sponsored by Betway, Collins said: “Any manager that does what Emery has done at Villa is going to be talked about. What he’s done, but not just him, the club in general – the way they’ve backed him, the money they’ve spent.
“Obviously, the fan base at Villa is huge. So, it is a big club but it’s football. If he’s doing well as a manager, there are going to be the super clubs that are going to be looking at him because they all want success. He’s clearly a top top manager so the bigger world clubs are going to be looking at him and rightly so because he’s done a great job.”
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Emery did, of course, spend some time at one such club in Arsenal, where he left a slightly different, and perhaps unfair, impression, but his stints at Villarreal and now Villa have made him one of the hottest properties in the managerial world.
The 53-year-old agreed a new five-year contract earlier this year, taking his tenure to the summer of 2029, meaning it will be a costly job for any club to drag him out of Villa Park.
In FourFourTwo’s view, as alluded to by Collins, there are few clubs run quite as smoothly as Villa at the minute, meaning there a few competitors that could offer Emery — ranked 6th in our list of the best managers right now — a more attractive proposition than he’s currently got.
The current Premier League big hitters of Manchester City and Liverpool are both unlikely to see changes in the dugout any time soon, and a return to Arsenal would be a big shock, meaning only an offer from a club on the level of Real Madrid or Barcelona might give Emery something to think about in the future.
Gone are the days of Villa being a stepping stone; Emery’s turned them into a modern-day destination.