Simon Jordan makes Arsenal, Unai Emery claim after Europa League win as ‘best manager in PL’ named
Simon Jordan has made a claim about Aston Villa boss Unai Emery and his time at Arsenal after winning the Europa League.
Unai Emery has done a remarkable job at Aston Villa, having guided them to Champions League qualification in two of the past three seasons.
The respected boss has gone a step further this season by ending Aston Villa‘s 44-year trophy drought. They beat Bundesliga outfit Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final to win the competition on Wednesday night.
Emery is now a five-time European winner and ex-Aston Villa forward Gabby Agbonlahor thinks his former side had a “lucky escape” when they appointed him over Ruben Amorim in 2022.
And Aston Villa’s boss has successfully rebuilt his reputation after previously having a poor spell at Premier League champions Arsenal, and ex-Crystal Palace chairman Jordan thinks Emery has proven that “he was the right person probably at the wrong time” for the Gunners.
“He [Emery] was sought after by Newastle and they would have got him if Emery had a tad more gumption to push his chairman at the time, if you remember at the time Villarreal’s chairman went, ‘pack it in, you’re not going anywhere’. Then a little bit later Aston Villa came along,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
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“What I liked was the interview he did last night where he said, ‘we are going to go on, this is not the end of the road’, it wasn’t said in some flash for cash way that he was getting a soundbite from, this is what he thinks, this is where he thinks the opportunity is.
“It gives him a chance, I’ve described the handicaps they [Villa] have, I’d love him to overcome it because I personally think, despite my rancour about the ridiculous performance against Tottenham in that individual game, he’s a class act, I think he’s a class act as a manager, I think he’s a class act the way the communicates to the media.
“It proves that Arsenal weren’t wrong when they went for him. Just the timing, he was the right person probably at the wrong time, and look at the language the media thought it was funny to ridicule his inability to articulate the way he thought he should do. No one is ridiculing him now.”
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“The best manager in the Premier League…”
Jordan has also explained why he thinks Emery is currently the “best manager in the Premier League”.
“In my view, he’s probably, given the tools he’s working with and the component parts he has, arguably the best manager in the Premier League,” Jordan added.
“Now people will suggest that’s a ridiculous statement to make because of Pep Guardiola, but I think if you compare all the contrasts and all the nuance and the different environments, I think he’s done a bloody brilliant job.
“Emery is a very good manager in a very good football club. I think there’s still things for Aston Villa to achieve, I think what’s more likely for them to achieve is to stabilise a constant theme of them being in the Champions League and a top-four club.”
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