Unai Emery is facing biggest challenge in his four years as Aston Villa manager following a summer of change at the club.
It took Aston Villa until late September to register their first Premier League win of the 2025/26 campaign. Five matches passed before Unai Emery’s team were able to put three points on the board, kick-starting another successful season. 12 months on they are facing a similar scenario.
Something about this season’s situation, however, feels different. Villa have come through a summer of change and there’s no guarantee Emery has the talent at his disposal to point his team in the right direction again. The disappointing results against Brighton, Arsenal, Hull City and Nottingham Forest are emblematic of how difficult this transition will be.
Villa lost their top scorer in Ollie Watkins when the England international joined Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. They also lost their most creative player in Morgan Rogers who joined Chelsea for a reported transfer fee of £117m. This might have been a good price for the attacking midfielder, but it still left Emery with a big hole to plug.
On top of this, midfield pace-setter Youri Tielemans had his release clause activated by Manchester United while key defensive piece Ezri Konsa signed for Arsenal and goalkeeper Emi Martínez joined Chelsea. Of the eight players who played the most league minutes for Aston Villa last season, six left this summer.
Emery is used to turning over squads. He’s done it before over the course of his four-year tenure as Villa manager and it was also a big part of his role at Sevilla. The Andalucians have a transfer model that requires them to sell a key player every so often and Emery was charged with making sure they weren’t missed too much.
This, however, is a lot of upheaval to compensate for in one go. This is the most substantial reconstruction job of Emery’s career with Aston Villa languishing in the bottom three of the Premier League table after four games. Can they bounce back as emphatically as they did last season?
Aston Villa invested in potential ahead of the 2026/27 campaign. Johan Mazambi was one of the breakout stars of the 2026 World Cup, shining as an all-round attacking force for Switzerland. Ibrahim Mbaye is widely considered one of the best young wingers in Europe after catching the eye at Paris Saint-Germain.
Signed to be Martínez’s replacement, Zion Suzuki has already demonstrated his quality in Serie A for Parma with João Gomes proven at Premier League level. The same could be said of Alejandro Garnacho who Emery is counting on being able to revitalise after a disappointing spell at Chelsea.
As of yet, though, that potential is still to be realised. There have been flashes, like in the Champions League when Villa put three goals past Club Brugge. Another permanent signing, Nicolas Jackson was particularly effective, scoring his first goal as an Aston Villa player. In the Premier League, though, the former Chelsea forward is still finding his feet.
A trip to North London awaits Villa on Saturday with Tottenham Hotspur similarly aiming to kick-start their season. They too rebuilt a large portion of their squad over the summer and are struggling to find cohesion, particularly in the forward line where Spurs have yet to score a single league goal in four games.
Victory for either side would change the narrative of a difficult start to the 2026/27 campaign. Defeat, however, will further entrench the fears that Aston Villa might not bounce back in the way they have previously. That the issues they have are more than just teething problems. That this is one rebuild too far for Emery.
The good news for Villa is that Emery has established a way of playing and a set of principles over several seasons. On the basis of the summer window, the club is still using these principles to guide their business, meaning there should be a sense of continuity to Aston Villa even as they transition into a new age.
Aston Villa supporters point to the Premier League’s restrictive financial rules as reason for their early-season struggles, and with some justification. Villa were vulnerable to the old PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) rules and the early indications are that the newly-imposed SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) framework won’t give them much more freedom to spend.
This is where Villa must trust Emery to guide them forward. The Spaniard has moulded the club around himself over the last four years. Emery is an Aston Villa legend and is clearly the best man for the job. Aston Villa wouldn’t want anyone else at the helm. However, this season is becoming his biggest, most challenging puzzle. There’s no guarantee he will solve it.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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