Aston Villa are now keen on ‘genius’ manager who rejected Newcastle United last year

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Aston Villa are eyeing Unai Emery to potentially replace Steven Gerrard less than a year since he rejected Newcastle United.

Villa had high hopes when they picked Gerrard to replace Dean Smith, having seen him win the Scottish Premiership title with Rangers.

However, Gerrard has struggled to string results together and Villa have won just twice in 10 Premier League games this season.

Gerrard is now at risk of losing his job and really needs results soon with potential replacements already being linked with the Villa Park hot seat.

Aston Villa are eyeing Unai Emery

The Telegraph claim that three names are in the mix for Villa; Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Unai Emery.

Emery is the only one of the three currently in a job given that he is still in charge of Villarreal.

The Spaniard has already had one stint in English football having taken the Arsenal job in 2018.

Replacing Arsene Wenger was never going to be easy but Emery may have expected a little more time, meeting his end in December 2019 despite guiding Arsenal to the Europa League final just months earlier.

Emery has returned to Spain with Villarreal and worked wonders last season, guiding Villarreal into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

There was an opportunity for Emery to return to England though with Newcastle United very keen last year.

Emery committed his future to Villarreal after talks with Newcastle as Guillem Balague told BBC Sport that Newcastle had a ‘lack of a clear vision’ following their takeover and that put Emery off.

Villa would therefore have to convince Emery that the project at Villa Park is bigger and better, even without the huge financial backing Newcastle can provide.

Hailed as a ‘genius’ by Ian Wright, Emery has done great work with clubs just short of the elite, such as Sevilla and Villarreal.

That may be what tempts Villa into looking at Emery, but with the Spaniard hard to convince last year and Gerrard still in the job, nothing looks imminent here.