Aston Villa have long relied on Unai Emery’s managerial acumen to mask deficiencies.
Revenue deficits, the size of their stadium and Villa’s previous standing are issues Emery is accustomed to dealing with after more than three years in the job. But some challenges he now faces are partly self-created.
The pros and cons of Emery’s work are exemplified in the events of this season. From a coaching perspective, arguably no Premier League manager has extracted more from a long-standing group of players. He has pushed individuals’ ceilings and kept Villa competitive despite the lack of changes to his strongest XI.
Nine goals have come from substitutes, with Emiliano Buendia, who Villa looked to sell last summer, scoring three of them. The 29-year-old midfielder has been reinvigorated, illustrating how Emery has transformed many of the players at the club, of which Buendia is one, who predate his October 2022 appointment.
Conversely, Villa remain the only Premier League side without a goal in the competition from one of this season’s new signings — either the summer window or the recently-ended winter one — which is a continuation of their patchy recruitment under Emery. While he has evolved the team from a tactical and competitive standpoint, in terms of personnel, his strongest XI always remains very similar.
Villa’s manager is a taskmaster but furnishes immense loyalty, which leads him to stick with trusted players through bad runs of form, only changing course reluctantly.
There was a sense the Spaniard felt he could rehabilitate Leon Bailey before he left on what was intended as a season-long loan to Roma in the summer, because of what he had previously offered. It came as little surprise when he recalled Bailey early in January, at the expense of summer signing Evann Guessand, who was loaned to Crystal Palace until the summer.
Villa’s football structure, in many ways, is a throwback. Modern recruitment models tend to prepare for the long term, whereas Villa have shown there are different ways to skin a cat.
They are manager-led and unafraid to sign older players, on high salaries and sometimes on loan (so with no resale value). They are designed to focus on the here and now, winning and pursuing the next immediate target, rather than future-proofing. If they fulfil those ambitions, such as qualifying to play in the Champions League next season, Emery will have more resources for the next summer transfer window.
Revenue concerns compared to their direct rivals can be offset by getting back into the Champions League, enabling the club to loosen the financial straitjacket and spend on the players Emery wants, regardless of their age.
Among the 20 Premier League teams, only Fulham have an older average age of players used this season than Villa’s 28 years and four months. Recent contract extensions at the club have gone to players including Lucas Digne, 32, John McGinn, 31, and Matty Cash, 28. These deals are reflective of Emery’s school of thought, primed to win now and counting on his faithful lieutenants.
John McGinn, 31, recently extended his contract (Marcel van Dorst/EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Brighton & Hove Albion, Villa’s opponents tonight (Wednesday), have the joint-seventh-youngest squad in the division — 26 years, four months — even with old-timers including 35-year-old Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross, Lewis Dunk, both 34, and James Milner, who turned 40 in January, involved. If Villa are cut from old-school cloth, Brighton are regarded as among the game’s leading lights in modern-day recruitment. It is perhaps only now, following one league win in 12 and amid growing fan discontent, that they do not appear so upwardly mobile.
In their previous fixture, a galling 1-0 home defeat to bitter rivals Crystal Palace on Sunday, only three of Brighton’s starting XI had been at the club since 2022. Villa, in comparison, had eight such players starting the 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth the previous afternoon.
Emery’s transformation of the relegation candidates he inherited from Steven Gerrard has been constructed on a strong spine of characters willing to be sculpted and pushed. Results have justified him sticking with the tried and trusted.
But at what point do his signings need to have a greater impact?
Ian Maatsen joined Villa in summer 2024 and has now started to nudge Digne from the first-choice left-back spot. Whether this can take place in more positions depends on the success of the club’s recruitment.
As an environment built on high demands, Villa can be an onerous place for a newcomer hoping to hit the ground running.
Villa’s experienced core are accustomed to the heavy pre-seasons under Emery, to the long training sessions, rare days off, and the four pre-match analysis meetings that can last up to two hours combined. This creates a unique bond between the manager and his players, but can be a culture shock for those not familiar with such a regime.
Club staff point to financial rules impeding their recruitment: Emery did not sign any of his first-choice targets in the summer. Recruitment staff have processes to identify talents but they do not always have the funds to build upon initial interest. Besides, the manager has the overarching final say on transfers.
Still, backup goalkeeper Marco Bizot, signed for less than a million pounds, and defender Victor Lindelof, a free agent after leaving Manchester United, have proven shrewd acquisitions, while Jadon Sancho is improving on loan from the latter. The biggest concern has been Harvey Elliott and the fraught tussle between Villa and Liverpool during his season-long loan. Bringing Elliott aboard was never Emery’s priority, though he remains out in the cold through no fault of his own.
Guessand had yet to convince Emery but with Villa walking so tight a financial line, he had to accept the winger’s departure in January when, ideally, he would have given him more time.
The 24-year-old Ivory Coast international was acquired in August to add goals to Villa’s attack. His failure to do so (though he did score twice in the Europa League) underlines the lack of direct impact and league goals from their fresh faces.
Villa have scored only three times in five league matches and are reliant on Morgan Rogers, whose goals have been directly responsible for 12 points this season. Tammy Abraham, prolific during a previous loan spell at the club, albeit that was in the second-tier Championship, joined in January and Emery will look to the England international striker to break the trend of Villa being without a goal from any of this season’s arrivals.
Added inspiration is usually required at this stage of a campaign. It is extraordinary that Villa have been so successful for so long with the absence of those traits and squad evolution.