Welcome to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, Mark II

A hallmark of longevity in football management is seeing seasons come and go and familiar faces move on.

Unai Emery is now the second-longest-serving manager in the Premier League. This will be his fourth full season, following Aston Villa’s most successful, which ended with a second Champions League qualification within three years and, most gloriously, Europa League triumph.

Emery joined in October 2022, revolutionising Villa’s standing. He achieved this through solid foundations, a sound structure and a nucleus of a squad that remained the same. Even last season, Emery would field starting XIs comprising eight or nine players who predated his arrival.

For nearly four years, Villa have represented reliability, emphasised by what has come of direct rivals who have floundered under the weight of change.

This squad broke records for fielding the oldest average team in their Premier League era last season. Age is not just the reason behind change in football, but also the necessity to refresh and find a new stimulus. If you do not evolve, you stand still.

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Wednesday evening marks the second iteration of Emery’s Villa. This summer has seen great change in playing personnel and within his staff, with the Super Cup final in Salzburg the first competitive match of the campaign.

Against Emery’s past employers, Paris Saint-Germain, the two teams sit at contrasting ends of the scale in relation to squad evolution. Whereas PSG can proactively revitalise nearly any time they like, financial regulations tend to compel Villa into doing so.

Ideally, Villa would not have sold Morgan Rogers or Youri Tielemans, yet they received a record fee for a British player with the former and, as a consequence of signing the latter as a free agent, reluctantly included a release clause which Manchester United met.

This is one aspect of Villa’s squad evolution. They had to sell some key players, but they also had to know the right time to move others on. It was why several sources close to Villa, speaking at the start of the summer on the condition of anonymity, believed the most imperative part of their transfer business had to be the ability to sell well and in timely fashion.

Despite Villa reaching their zenith under Emery in May, there was a growing argument to undergo a stable transitional phase, providing youthful impetus and appearing proactive, rather than reactive, in lowering the age of the squad.

The acquisitions of Johan Manzambi, 20, Joao Gomes, 25 — and potentially Matteo Ruggeri, 24, who is set to replace Lucas Digne, 33 — are examples of preferred renewal.

Manzambi’s club-record transfer was viewed as a significant coup. The attacking midfielder offers youth, dynamism and drive. It is hoped that Manzambi, during a transitional period as Villa reshape their squad, will serve as the paragon of how to spend the money they do have in the right way.

Villa endeavour to move others on, including Leon Bailey, 29, who remains in a prolonged period of negotiation with his current club and Hull City, who have long agreed a fee for the winger. While Arsenal and Villa remain apart on valuation for Ezri Konsa, who has entered the final two years of his contract, he serves as another case of a long-standing core figure who could end up departing.

Previously, Villa have missed the market peak of some of their players, including Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins. If either or both had left this summer, Villa would not have received the level of fee they would have got 18 months to two years ago. However, Villa would rightly say that in keeping Martinez and Watkins last season, they proved instrumental in the defining stage of their campaign, critical in finishing fourth and winning European silverware.

Their respective value, therefore, cannot be judged on transfer fee, with their presence in the squad far outweighing that. It is why they wanted to keep Martinez from the outset this summer and batted away small, incremental offers from Juventus. 

Too much change would increase the risk of instability, particularly running through the core of the team which has already seen Tielemans and Rogers leave. If Watkins was to go, for example, that would overhaul an attacking system which was built around him and Rogers.

Tielemans, Rogers and Digne were three of Emery’s most trusted players, in performance and professionalism. Tielemans called Emery out of respect to his manager before beginning negotiations with United. Rogers gave Emery one more season after they sat down last summer and maintained a close relationship, with the England international regarded as one of his favourite sons.

Digne, who lived in London throughout his time at Villa, would return from scheduled days off following international duty early, stay overnight at the training ground and apply himself to every aspect of Emery’s training to convince the Spaniard that he was worthy of staying. Instilling those same principles in their replacements are fundamental in the new era.

Villa’s squad is not yet fully constructed, with more incomings expected. But the match against PSG both symbolises past achievements — winning the Europa League in May meant they played in this — as well as an insight into the future.