Unai Emery has signed a new contract at Aston Villa to the delight of the fans.
Over 18 months ago, the club was hovering above the Premier League’s relegation zone and facing a possible and unexpected relegation battle.
But then Steven Gerrard was booted out, which led to Unai Emery entering the Aston Villa building and everything has since been on the up.
Aston Villa secured Champions League football during the recently concluded campaign to cap off what has been an outstanding season for the club.
For his reward, Emery has been handed and signed a new five-year deal and the club announced that this week.
Matty Cash, who has been a regular under Emery, stated that it’s ‘massive’, as he told Sky Sports News (28/05/24 at 12:30 pm).
The right-back added that, since the manager has come in, ‘he has made us a million times better’ and that has been displayed in the performances and results.
But what Cash also interestingly shared, on talkSPORT, which many don’t know about, is that the players already knew about the Emery deal ‘two months ago’ and they ‘congratulated’ him at the time.
There were suggestions, when managerial jobs were up for grabs, that Emery could be targeted and journalists then began reporting a new deal was in the offing.
Now it has been signed, it’s just another step in the right direction for Villa and Cash is certainly delighted about it.
Unai Emery signs new contract at Aston Villa
“It just shows where the club is going,” said Cash. “It’s a massive thing that the boss has stayed.
“Since he has come in, he has made the club a million times better, in terms of the way we are playing and performing. The club speaks for itself because of the fans. They are a massive part of it. They run the club, the fans really, so the fact that we have got it really good off the pitch with the manager and other stuff behind the scenes. It just shows that the only way is up for Villa, so fingers crossed we can start well next year.
He then added on talkSPORT: “He signed a new contract about two months ago (on whether players knew about the deal beforehand). When he signed that we sort of had a meeting about it and we congratulated him. I think I loaded Twitter the other day and it came up ‘signed a new contract’. It’s only a benefit for the club.”
Champions League football at Villa Park
It’s the one fans have been dreaming about, and in a few months, it will become a reality with some heavyweight clashes set to be made.
Villa fell flat on their face in the Europa Conference League this season by only making the semi-final stages.
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You give the players the benefit of the doubt because the team was riddled with injuries towards the end, and for many of the players, this is their first time in Europe.
Plus, Villa will be the underdogs in the Champions League and as they have proven this season, they are at their best when they have that tag over their heads.