Unai Emeryโs story is similar to that of Jurgen Klopp.
He was playing in the Spanish 3rd tier with Lorca, he got injured and the coach position was vacant, the club president offered it to him, and he took it. He promoted them to the Segunda division same season. This was 2004 and the first time in the clubโs history.
Almeria got him, guess what?
He promoted Almeria to La Liga same season too. This was Almeriaโs first promotion to La Liga in their history.
Imagine your first two jobs as a manager was delivering two promotions to two different clubs, which was the first in their histories.
A manager that was definitely on an upward progression. Valencia came for him.
In his last three years as Valencia manager, they finished 3rd behind the obvious two clubs, he kept them competitive even after losing key players like David Villa, David Silva, and the likes.
He went to Spartak Moscow briefly, but his time there did not go well. He already had a great reputation in Spain, and so he returned to Sevilla where he performed wonders.
He won 3 Europa leagues in a row with Sevilla, beating Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool in the finals. He became the most successful manager in the Europa League.
He moved to PSG, of course delivered the league titles and cups, but couldnโt do well in the champions league. He was eliminated by Barcelona in that famous comeback, Real Madrid eliminated his team the next season.
Arsenal came for him. There was something he did at Arsenal that is usually not talked about. He won 11 games in a row and went 22 games unbeaten, this part is usually not talked about and I wonder why. In fact, it was the first time Arsenal had won 11 games in a row since 2007.
He also led Arsenal to an Europa League final, but lost against Chelsea. His โgood ebeningโ joke and accent became too much in the media, fans and media mocked him, he also had a poor run of form, and Arsenal sacked him in 2019. I still hold the opinion that if he was given 7 years and a billion, he would have delivered something.
He did not leave Arsenal without at least doing something significant, he promoted Saka from the academy, a player who has gone on to be a key figure at the club. He also promoted Emile Smith Rowe.
Villarreal came for him. He won the Europa league with them that season, beating his former team Arsenal in the semi final and Manchester United in the final. This was his 4th Europa League title.
He did something wonderful in the 2022 champions league with Villarreal, he eliminated Juventus and superpower Bayern Munich to get to the champions league semi final before he was beaten by Liverpool. It would have been one of the greatest underdog story if he got to the final with Villarreal.
This is where it gets interesting.
Aston Villa had just promoted to the premier league for the 19/20 season, they escaped relegation by one point, finishing 17th. In the next two seasons, they finished in the bottom half.
At the start of 22/23 season, Villa struggled with Gerrard and by end of October, they sacked him.
Villa were so convinced Emery was their guy, they paid a โฌ6m buyout fee to Villarreal to get him. This is where the story started, he moved them from 16th to 7th. Instant impact.
In 23/24, he finished 4th, Villa qualified for their first champions league in 41 years, where they got to the quarter final and got eliminated by PSG. Although, Villa gave PSG a run for their money, they actually beat PSG 3-2 at Villa Park but lost out on aggregate, losing 3-1 in Paris.
Earlier this year, he hit 100 wins with Villa, the quickest by any manager in their history. He currently sits in champions league position, and in the Europa League final. He has turned a relegation-battling Villa as at when he arrived, into a regular European team.
Fun fact, Emery has won 4 out of 5 Europa League finals, he only came second one time, guess the club๐ ๐ ๐
That aside, this guy is a superb manager. Ladies and Gentlemen, UNAI EMERY.
@Farina_5@henrywinter Serie A used to be the top league as well mate but then Juventus started paying refs and people stopped going to games then it shifted to La Liga and now itโs the Prem thatโs life
3-0 DOWN IN 30 MINUTES, LETS ALL LAUGH AT BRIGHTON๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐