Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (52), who is said to be a leading candidate to become Bayern Munich’s next manager, has spoken out.
Emery was asked about his future at Bayern Munich after leading Villa to a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth in the 34th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League (EPL) season at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, on Jan. 21 (KST). “I’m focused on Villa (at the moment),” he said in a short, vague answer.
Villa have been on a roll this season. They have a good chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League next season.
The win over Bournemouth took Villa to 20 wins, 6 draws, and 8 losses (66 points). They are six points clear of fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur, who have 18 wins, six draws, and eight losses (60 points). They’re heading for a solid fourth place finish.
Off the field, things have been a bit of a mess for Villa. This is due to the recent news that Emery is on the shortlist for the next managerial job in Munich.
“Xabi Alonso and Julian Nagelsmann (who were Munich’s top two candidates) have decided to stay at Leverkusen and the German national team respectively,” 카지노사이트 Bild reported on June 21. The Bavarians are looking for a new coach, and Emery Villa is a strong candidate for the job.”
Leverkusen’s Alonso was initially considered as the ‘first choice’ to succeed Tuchel.
Alonso made his debut at Real Sociedad in 1999 before moving to Liverpool in 2004. He won four trophies with the Reds, including a UEFA Champions League title (2004-2005).
Alonso then moved to Real Madrid in 2009 and retired in Munich in 2017.
After retiring, Alonso began his coaching career with Real Sociedad’s B team before taking over at Leverkusen in 2022. After finishing sixth in the Bundesliga last season, Alonso led Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title in the 20223-2024 season.
However, it was recently announced that Alonso would be staying at Leverkusen.
Munich then turned to the reappointment of current German national team coach Nagelsmann.
Munich sacked Nagelsmann midway through last season.
Nagelsmann took over in April 2021 and won the German Bundesliga title in the 2021-2022 season. However, he was fired in March of last year after the club failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and DFB Pokal in the 2022-2023 season.
Munich brought Tuchel in to replace Nagelsmann, but the team went downhill from there. In 2022-2023, Tuchel was praised for filling Nagelsmann’s shoes with a narrow Bundesliga title victory, but in 2023-2024, he led the team’s decline. They lost the Bundesliga title to Leverkusen.
It was officially announced that Nagelsmann would remain with the German national team.
Munich are starting their search for a new coach from scratch, with Emery reportedly at the top of the list.
Emery’s nickname is the ‘Emperor of the Europa League’. When he was in charge of Sevilla from 2013-2016, he led the team to the top of the Europa League for three consecutive seasons. In the 2020-2021 season, he led Villarreal to another Europa League title.
He has also held managerial positions at PSG (2016-2018) and Arsenal (2018-2019). Emery failed to win the French Ligue 1 title in his first season at PSG, but he had a ‘second chance’. In his second season, he won the league title. At Arsenal, trophies were not his thing. In 2020, he moved to Villarreal, 메이저 토토사이트 where he returned to the top of the Europa League.
Emery, who has been in charge of Villa since last season, has defied all expectations this season and guided the team to the ‘big four’. Emery has plenty to make Munich’s mouth water.
According to the BBC, Emery couldn’t avoid the Munich question in his official press conference after the win over Bournemouth on Nov. 21.
“I’m 100% focused here (at Villa),” he said simply. He neither confirmed nor denied.
