Aston Villa have struck gold on “one of the best midfielders in Europe”

The ‘timely’ exit of Pep Guardiola has thrown up the question as to who is the best manager in the Premier League right now, with Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery surely in the equation.

His compatriot Mikel Arteta might have claimed the title last season, but the experienced Spaniard has overseen such a remarkable, sustained rise of his own at Villa Park.

A club who were in the Championship seven years ago claimed Europa League glory back in May, now in the Champions League for the second time in his tenure so far.

He’s a club builder and a squad builder, a true master at his best. That’s not to say he did it all on his own, however.

Emery’s best inherited signings at Aston Villa

It’s easy to look at a manager’s record in terms of recruitment at a club, but it’s sometimes forgotten what they do with those they have inherited when taking charge.

For some, it’s merely a case of ripping things up and starting again, keen to put their own stamp on proceedings with a raft of new arrivals. Looking at you, Roberto De Zerbi.

And yet, in Emery’s case, he was more than happy to nurture and develop those already at Villa Park, following his arrival in the dugout back in late 2022.

Look to the team that downed De Zerbi’s Tottenham Hotspur last time out, for instance, the starting XI including two players who had been part of the promotion-winning season in 2018/19, in John McGinn and Tyrone Mings.

Looking again to the starting lineup against Freiburg in the Europa League showpiece, it also included 2019 signing, Ezri Konsa, as well as three men who arrived a year later, in the form of Ollie Watkins, Emi Martinez and Matty Cash.

The same is also true of Lucas Digne and Emi Buendia, both signed in 2021/22, with the latter continuing his recent renaissance by netting that thumping effort in north London.

Therein lies Emery’s genius, having kept a core of players together for so long, even when many weren’t his own signings.

That all changed amid a flurry of exits over the summer, although not everyone has flown the nest.

Why Aston Villa have “one of the best midfielders in Europe”

It’s still remarkable to think that when Emery took charge in November 2022, the Villans were languishing three points above the relegation zone, following a dismal run of form under Steven Gerrard.

REUTERS/Paul Childs

What he has managed to achieve in still a relatively short space of time really is remarkable, with Villa arguably a different club now to the one which Emery inherited.

As noted above, however, the foundations were there for a successful team to be formed, be it with regard to McGinn, Watkins, Martinez or even Boubacar Kamara, the Frenchman snapped up by Gerrard in that summer of 2022.

In an era of lavish spending in the Premier League, it remains such a coup that Villa were able to sign Kamara on a free transfer, the midfielder departing Marseille following the expiry of his contract.

He’d been persuaded to make the move by the likes of Gerrard, and Emery should certainly be thankful for the work of his predecessor, with Kamara still now an essential cog in this Villa machine.

Yes, injury has been an issue in recent years for the 26-year-old, but there’s no denying that the Midlands side remain a better team with him in it, having been sorely missed in the back end of last season after sustaining a knee injury.

He was notably absent for the last 17 league games of the campaign, a run of fixtures that saw Villa win just six times, having at one stage been in the title picture before that.

Of course, Emery had begun to shuffle his pack by the end, amid Europa League commitments, but even so, that speaks to just how vital Kamara is to Villa’s fortunes.

The aforementioned McGinn said as much last season too, hailing his club colleague as “one of the best midfielders in Europe“, praise that is undoubtedly warranted.

He hasn’t played for his country since 2023, yet perhaps that will all change with Zinedine Zidane now at the helm with France, with Kamara deserving of the chance to add to his five senior caps.

In any case, from a Villa perspective, this free transfer signing still remains a masterstroke, as seen in the fact that he is now worth €40m (£34m), as per Transfermarkt.

A fine rise that is indeed, although let’s face it, Kamara is worth far more to Emery than that.