News has broken over the past few days of two major managerial vacancies becoming available at the end of the current season, and to the delight of Villa fans, the name of Unai Emery has barely been linked with either.
First, Jurgen Klopp announced his intention to stand down as Liverpool manager at the end of the current season. Then within 48 hours of Klopp’s announcement, Xavi Hernández said he will leave his role as Barcelona head coach at the end of this campaign.
But why isn’t the name of Unai Emery linked with these jobs? After all, Emery is doing a great job at Villa Park, so it seems strange he barely gets a mention. As we all know, a football bet doesn’t need to be on the action itself and the odds can give us a good indication of managerial situations: Emery is 16/1 to be the next Liverpool boss and odds of 28/1 to end up in Spain. This is despite his Villa side riding high in the Premier League. As for Premier League bets on Villa, Emery’s team is 40/1 to win the title, and just 4/5 to finish in the top four. The fact that Villa’s odds are so short is testimony to how well Emery is doing at the club.
Aston Villa is delighted to announce the appointment of Unai Emery as the club’s new Head Coach. ????
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 24, 2022
No Villa fan is complaining about these snubs for Emery, as no one wants him to leave. Fans are delighted he seems to be going under the radar. But at the same time, it does seem wrong.
Fans of Liverpool would point to Emery’s disappointing spell with Arsenal as justification for him not being linked with replacing Klopp. The Spaniard also has no connection with the 2020 Champions. Not that this is relevant in this day and age. Football fans of a certain vintage remember that Liverpool used to only appoint one of their own. But in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, that criteria changed with the appointments of Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez, Roy Hodgson, Brendon Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp. So there is no reason why Emery couldn’t be considered to replace the departing Klopp on that basis.
Former Reds playmaker Xavi Alonso is the betting favourite. The Spaniard is having a tremendous run in Germany, with his Bayer Leverkusen side having topped the table for the majority of the season.
As for the Barcelona job, Villa fans must be both shocked and rejoicing to see the name of Mikel Arteta installed as the betting favourite. The Arsenal boss has denied the links, but he is still a favourite.
???? BREAKING — Mikel Arteta on links with Barcelona and his decision to leave Arsenal in June: “Fake news. Totally fake news”.
“I don’t know where it is coming from. It is totally untrue”.
“I am really upset about it. I could not believe it. No source, nothing”. pic.twitter.com/7Ye7gCE1B3
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 29, 2024
Why is Arteta being linked though? He has won nothing. His managerial record is vastly inferior to that of Emery. And the chances are that if Emery had been given the same backing and time at the Emirates that Arteta has, he would probably still be there, and – unlike Arteta – winning trophies.
A bit like the Liverpool situation, Emery has no obvious connection with Barcelona. But coming from the Basque Country, he would be more welcome at the Nou Camp than a traditional Spanish Castile manager would. Arteta is also a Basque Countryman. And the Arsenal boss did start his career at the Nou Camp. But it was a career limited to the youth team and Barcelona B. He is far from a Barcelona legend.
It’s fairly obvious to any football fans that Unai Emery looks better qualified for the Liverpool and Barcelona jobs than the current betting favourites. But because of his spell at Arsenal, where anybody may have failed at the time, he will be wrongly overlooked. And that is their loss and Villa’s gain.
