Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has revealed that Unai Emery’s son urged him to take the Aston Villa job.
It didn’t take long for the Villa hierarchy to find a successor to Steven Gerrard following his sacking on Thursday night.
The former Liverpool captain was relieved of his duties after another disappointing performance at Fulham, and four days later, Emery was announced as his replacement.
On November 1st, the former Villarreal boss will begin work at Bodymoor Heath when his work permit is granted.
However, despite telling the media that this was an opportunity too good to turn down, it appears he had some thinking to do over the weekend.
Speaking on the Claret and Blue podcast, Balague claimed: “He said no to Newcastle because the timing wasn’t right, Villarreal asked him to stay put.
“He was enjoying being with his son. Having been all over the place, he hadn’t been able to be with him, close to him. So he enjoyed that and it was a different timing.
“Now, it was his son telling him, look, go. You have to enjoy this outcome and see, I’ll come and visit you.”
TIF Thoughts on Emery and Villa…
Will Emery be a success at Villa?
Yes!
No!
After three and a half years in charge of Sevilla – with three Europa League trophies in his three full seasons, the 50-year-old left Spain to take charge of Paris Saint-Germain.
Following 114 games in the French capital, it was then on to London to take the reins at Arsenal.
Emery spent 16 months with the Gunners and guided them to a fifth-place finish, one point outside of the top four in his only full season at the Emirates Stadium.
He was sacked the following term and was out of work for over half a year before linking up with the Yellow Submarine and returning to his home country for the first time in four years.
However, after another Europa League triumph and over two years at the Estadio de la Ceramica with his family Villa look set to profit from Emery’s intentions.
Given the sour ending in north London, there is no denying the manager will be keen to make amends in the Premier League.
At Villa, you can expect him to be backed by Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, who have ambitions to take the club back into Europe.
And with the decorated Emery at the helm and his own personal agenda, they may well have found the right man to do just that.