A day in Birmingham with Unai Emery, the 'boss' who takes the 'villains' to Europe: "I've never had a project like this"
The center of Birmingham is furrowed by canals from which, in the 18th century, the manufactures leaving the factories of the 'city of a thousand trades', the second most populous capital in England, where Unai Emery arrived six months ago to wake up a sleeping giant. From his glass-enclosed penthouse he can see them and, on the few walks that the competition allows him to take, he can still go unnoticed, even without the cap with which he usually protects himself from glances and the photos to which he gladly agrees, but which do bring out your point of shyness. The one that eclipses his energy when there is a ball in between. The Basque coach looks happy with his return to the Premier in a project “that I have never had in my hands.”
Aston Villa, seven-time champion of the Premier League and the European Cup in 1982, flirted with relegation for another season and its president and owner, the Egyptian Nassef Sawiri, the second richest businessman in Africa, did not hesitate to call him. «They offered me to be the manager responsible for everything. Since I left Arsenal, I had made an effort to be prepared if the opportunity arose”, he says from his office in the sports city of Boodymoor Heath, comfortable and flirtatious, but which he also wants to expand with a residence for the first team concentrations.. All that also now depends on him.
Winning the Europa League with Villarreal and reaching the Champions League semifinals made him aware that his name would ring again in all the big leagues.. “It was not a normal moment, but I exposed Fernando Roig Jr.. that it was an opportunity and, from the understanding, he opened the door for me. If I had not done it, even if Aston Villa had paid my clause, I would not have accepted, “he admits.
Unai Emery, in the Aston Villa Sports City.
Her stage in the yellow team defines her as professionally and personally “very happy”, which is why she said no a year earlier to Newcastle's offer. “I thought it was not the time because I could still reach more with Villarreal. Reaching the semifinals of the Champions League proved me right,” he says.. But the second chance could not be missed. His new boss, Nassef Sawiris, is in love with football, but he dumps all the decisions on the Basque. «I like to have meetings, go to lunch or dinner from time to time, as I have done with all the presidents I have had.. It's easy because he's in London and he comes to almost every game. I asked Nassef for that responsibility, because at 51 years old and with my experience, I feel capable of demanding it and assuming it.. Of course, I told him that I would make him participate in all the decisions so that he would understand why I do things, “explains Unai with great confidence.
Why did he love you?
“I ask all the presidents that. Logically there are the successes, but someone has also told me that because of my energy or my style of play. Nassef was attracted by the successes in Europe, but above all by the ability to overcome KO qualifiers and to build competitive teams as seen against transatlantic players like Liverpool, United, Bayern or Juve.. That is what he said. He wants Aston Villa to be that competitive, to fight for the top four in the Premier League and compete for European titles.”
Praetorian Guard without Alemany
What he is not going to do is do it from inferiority. In a Premier with an extraordinary “financial muscle”, Aston Villa is willing to raise the bar on spending to fight for everything. “The idea is to build a team that matches the ones we are going to compete with”. For that, Unai Emery needs to surround himself with the best, with a Praetorian Guard like the one Guardiola built at City. «The president, in another show of confidence, lets me compose the group of people that surrounds me. A coach has to make many decisions every day and have a lot of professional criteria, experience and knowledge, but he needs people around him to help perfect that decision,” he explains.
Unai, in Birmingham.
The icing on the cake was going to be Mateu Alemany. «We want a strong structure and we value who could be. Who was experienced, competitive and a good fit for me and the owners. I have talked a lot about football with Mateu and I have a personal relationship that made me feel comfortable.”. However, the Mallorcan reversed his announcement to leave Barça, something does not upset the plans or the ambition of the project led by the Basque. With the senior executive Damià Vidagany, his coaching staff and two strong men like Alberto Benito and Pablo Rodríguez in the technical secretariat who come from Betis and Villarreal, Emery forms that circle of protection that he admires from City. «When we talk about Guardiola, we do it about a prolonged success over time and football updates that start from a genius like him. The structure it has makes it possible to focus on work and trust everything around it. That is a good model and we talked about creating it with Mateu Alemany. I want to be very rigorous, that the decisions are the best and assume them because they are mine or that of the professional people that surround me».
Good numbers and the faith of the players
For now, he has Villa Park surrendered at his feet. In six months he has transformed the team that was flirting with relegation into one that will be in Europe through the Conference League with record numbers: 10 games without losing, 20 scoring at least one goal and a defense that has once again made the team shine. Dibu Martinez. His work has earned him the nomination for best coach of the season in the Premier.
«I remember a phrase by Juanma Lillo, whom I admire, who said that to learn sometimes you have to unlearn. That happens to players. Sometimes you have to tell them to do things differently because they will do better. And when they do well, they appreciate it.. In any case, I have had players who were happy for two months and no longer. It happened to me at Arsenal. That is why I prefer that they not flatter me if they are going to criticize me later. I don't like to hear it because I know it may be a defect in the future,” he says.
Flattery is inevitable. The winger Alex Moreno cannot run away from them. A WhatsApp revolutionized his life in January. “Unai wrote me to talk to me”. From that moment on, a transfer that left Betis 13.5 million, the move and the debut “without even time to warm up” against Leeds at Villa Park, “and I saved a goal. It was a good start”, says the full-back, who was in the crosshairs of Luis de la Fuente until a hamstring tear sent him to the operating room.
The Spanish winger Álex Moreno. . HEREDIA
«It was not easy to leave Betis, but it was the opportunity of my life. The Premier is the best league in the world and the project is very motivating.”. In his time at Barça youth, Llagostera, Mallorca, Rayo, Elche and Betis, he had faced Emery many times, but the first advice was given by Joaquín. «You are going to swell up from watching videos, he told me. And yes, that analysis with the staff to see how improving movements in attack and defense helps you grow.”. “His system, with a lot of prominence of the ball, favors me a lot when it comes to attacking,” he says.. “Everything that he asks of us and corrects us in training, then you see that it is very useful in the game,” admits the footballer, who retired injured against Liverpool and may have said goodbye to the season.
He also admits the influence of the Basque coach, captain John McGinn. The Scottish international did not have to explain who Emery was. At the age of 13, he was in the UEFA Cup final at Hampden Park and saw Sevilla win against Espanyol. Since then, he has been aware of what the Sevillistas were doing, “I can even hum the anthem”, he jokes. Emery’s exploits he knows and now captivates him as a coach. “He passes on incredible information to make us better. Even though I’m 28 years old, every day is like going to school. I learn and he makes me feel like I have no limits. It’s part of his plan that I hope will take us to Europe and the top 10 of the Premiership,” relates the captain.
Used to English coaches, they have adapted to the concentrations, the long talks, his involvement in training, “running like one more,” and to his style. “He wants us to spend more time in possession and that’s what he insists on. My advantage is that I already do it that way with Scotland.” With his national team he plays further forward. At Villa, wherever Emery says. “He asked me and I told him wherever he wanted except on the bench.. Now I'm enjoying a lot.”
Captain John McGinn. . HEREDIA
Emery insists that there is still a way to go, that he does not have a magic wand. «All changes have their immediate effects, which can last two weeks, six months or a year, but success is being able to evolve and improve in four years.. If you come back in four years, then we can talk about success.”
Premier vs League
-Is there now less patience with the projects in the Premier?
«It is that football is changing. The Premier has an economic capacity that makes the demands greater. The times of Fergusson or Wenger were others in which the projects were maintained in periods of non-success because they were confident that they would arrive.. This is modern football: success or success. They can forgive you one, but the second no longer, “he warns.
In this economic fight, is the League falling behind? «I owe him a lot, but the Premier has the financial muscle and what football means in England. When I was little, they told me that for Athletic fans, going to football was like going to mass.. I didn't even know who the rival was, but they went to the Cathedral, the same thing happens here ». In Birmingham people make a pilgrimage to Villa Park to see their ‘villains’
.