Emery ‘grateful’ for Newcastle interest, confirms Villarreal stay

Jason Soutar
Unai Emery instructing his team

Villarreal head coach Unai Emery has confirmed he will stay at the La Liga club despite interest from Newcastle United.

The former Arsenal head coach emerged as the frontrunner for the vacant job at St James’ Park alongside ex-Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe.

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague revealed on Wednesday that Emery was not interested in a return to the Premier League.

He said on Twitter: ‘Emery will reject the approach from Newcastle,’ he wrote. ‘His doubts after the game had to do with not knowing the latest. And the latest – I think – was an unnecessary huge pressure on match day and not a clear vision from the club.

‘What does Eddie Howe have to do with Unai, for instance?’


Newcastle and spoon-fed media f**k up Emery as OGS disappears


And the man himself confirmed that he will turn down any approach from the Magpies, admitting he was “grateful” for their interest.

‘For all the noise there was yesterday in another country, inside the club there was transparency and loyalty with the Roig family and with my squad, which is at its maximum and for me is the most important thing,’ Emery said on Twitter.

‘Villarreal CF is my home and I am 100 per cent committed. Honestly, I am grateful for the interest of a great club, but even more grateful to be here and that is why I communicated to Fernando Roig my decision to continue being part of this project, thanks to the commitment and respect that I feel from the club and my players, which is mutual and reciprocal.

‘I want to thank the fans for the support they have given me always shown me. On Sunday we have a very important game and I hope we can altogether get victory. See you at the Estadio de la Ceramica.’

Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie said it was “the news Newcastle fans didn’t want to hear this lunchtime”.

He added: “There’s nobody working within the new consortium that has been involved in a football club before, so this is all new to them. There are teething problems for them, and maybe they’ll look back at this in months to come and think there were some mistakes at the start, but that is often the way with new owners coming in.”