Unai Emery was already contracted to Aston Villa until 2029. He is now close to signing a longer one, and the timing is not accidental. Villa play Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, and every week that Michael Carrick's position looks shakier is a week somebody suggests Emery as the replacement.
Talks took place on Wednesday between Emery, chairman Nassef Sawiris and executives Roberto Olabe and Damian Vidagany. Villa released a statement that night describing a "clear commitment beyond 2029" and a plan for the club's long-term direction under Emery's sporting leadership. The finances and the exact length are still being worked out. Nobody expects an announcement before the weekend.
What he is actually being offered
This is not a pay rise dressed up as a vote of confidence. The extension is tied to Emery taking on more responsibility for how the club is actually built — recruitment, structure, the shape of the thing over several seasons rather than one — which is what he has wanted for a while and what would make leaving harder to explain to himself. Sawiris and his executives are offering influence. Emery has always taken influence over comfort.
He arrived in October 2022 from Villarreal with Villa in a relegation fight. Four years later they have qualified for Europe in every season he has been in charge and they won the Europa League in May, the club's first major trophy in 30 years. Whatever happens next, that record is not in dispute.
A harder season than the trophy suggests
The summer took the spine out of the team that finished fourth and lifted the European trophy. Villa sold and have not fully replaced, and it shows: they sit 10th in the Premier League. In the Champions League it has gone the other way, with three wins from the opening four matches.
That split is the argument for and against him at once. League inconsistency with a rebuilt squad is ordinary. Three wins in four against continental opposition with that same rebuilt squad is not, and Villa's board appear to have decided the second number tells them more about where this is going than the first one does.
The United noise, and the Carragher episode
Villa have been touchy about this.
Last month's episode showed how much. They threatened Jamie Carragher with legal action after he suggested on air that Emery would be a good appointment at Old Trafford and told Villa fans to "shut up". The threat went away once Carragher apologised. That it was made at all tells you how the club reads the story.
From United's side the picture is less dramatic than the back pages imply. There is still support for Carrick among the hierarchy, and Sunday's game against Villa is being treated as significant rather than final. Didier Deschamps has already told United he is not interested in the job. Emery, if the paperwork lands as expected, will have taken himself out of the conversation before the two sides even kick off.
Contract context: Unai Emery, Aston Villa head coach since October 2022, was already under contract until 2029 and is close to agreeing a longer extension carrying greater responsibility for the club's long-term development. Villa confirmed Wednesday's meeting with chairman Nassef Sawiris and executives Roberto Olabe and Damian Vidagany. Villa are 10th in the Premier League and have won three of their first four Champions League matches. Source: BBC Sport (Guillem Balague).
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