Unai Emery and Mauricio Pochettino have both been linked with the now-vacant Aston Villa job with the former Arsenal man said to heading for talks.
Steven Gerrard got the sack as Aston Villa manager after his side lost 3-0 to Fulham on Thursday night.
Down to 10 men after Douglas Luiz was sent off for pushing his head at Aleksandar Mitrovic’s face, which somehow made the 6′ 2″ striker fall like a tree hit by a bulldozer, Villa also gave away a penalty and scored an own goal.
It was hilarious.
About an hour after the game, Gerrard, who averaged 0.82 points-per-game this season, was told not to bother coming back.
As a result, Villa are looking to hire a new manager and two names have already made the media – Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery.
I was not surprised to see Pochettino’s name linked. He has, after all, been out of a job since PSG let him go in July.
Emery’s name, however, was a surprise, but the Spaniard is apparently set to hold talks with Villa over talking the job.
Emery is not a bad manager but the language barrier when he was at Arsenal caused real issues. That’s not a criticism of Emery, just a fact about hard it can be to learn a new language as you get older.
With Villarreal, Emery won the Europa League (the first trophy in their history). He also guided them to a Champions League semi-final.
I didn’t really understand why he might want to return to the Premier League at this point. As I don’t keep up with how it’s going for him in Spain too closely, I had a look to see if it’s all been falling apart.
It has not.
In fact, just three weeks ago it was being reported that Villarreal want to renew the 50-year-old contract which expires next summer. The same report does, however, claim that the Villarreal board had to convince Emery not to leave for Newcastle United before Eddie Howe was ultimately hired.
It is known that Villa’s owners have their eyes on reaching the Champions League and there is most definitely a project there for a manager who wants one.
Pochettino is said to be concerned about the squad as it stands with not enough players to implement his preferred high-intensity style.
Emery, however, might be regretting both turning down the chance to build Newcastle while feeling he has unfinished business in the Premier League after his time at Arsenal.
He might also just be using the media to get a better contract with Villarreal.
Whatever happens, I’d certainly be fascinated to watch him manage at Villa where he’d have to listen to Emi Martinez ask him constantly why he only picked him eight times for Arsenal.