Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has revealed that Unai Emery feels ‘revitalised’ following his appointment at Aston Villa.
On Monday evening, the club confirmed Emery as the new manager following Steven Gerrard’s sacking.
Emery will officially begin his work in the West Midlands on November 1st, five days before the Villans take on Manchester United.
It will see a return to the Premier League for the 50-year-old coach, having been at the Arsenal helm for 16 months between 2018 and 2019 before being sacked.
Balague has now shared a conversation he had with the one-time PSG boss and how he is hoping to right his previous wrongs in England.
Speaking on the Claret and Blue podcast, he said: “He does feel revitalised by the possibility of coming to Aston Villa. Physically, he feels great, mentally sharp and really looking forward about coming to England.
“I spoke to him on Sunday – you can hear in his voice the spark, and it kind of fulfils a gap and the need to finish an unfinished business.
“I think he probably feels a little bit hurt by what happened at Arsenal because a lot of the things that were done after he left were the things that he wanted done while he was there.”
TIF Thoughts on Balague’s comments…
Will Emery be a success at Villa?
Yes!
No!
Emery led Arsenal to a fifth-place finish in his only full season at the Emirates Stadium.
However, he was let go by the club just 13 games into the 2019/20 season following the Gunners’ worst run of results since 1992.
He left the team in eighth place and eight points off the top four, which is where the club ultimately ended up that season – albeit eventually finishing 10 points off the Champions League places.
Mikel Arteta, of course, was the man who succeeded Emery in north London and has the side at the top of the current league table.
That will no doubt be an incentive for the new Villa boss to prove what might have been, and given his pedigree in Europe, those at Bodymoor Heath could well be thinking about continental qualification in the not-too-distant future themselves.