Unai Emery and his Aston Villa side could be set to echo the work of Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
There is no getting away from the fact that the Spaniard has been superb ever since coming in through the Villa Park doors.
Emery departed Villarreal for Aston Villa in 2022 and has carried the B6 club away from a relegation battle and into the Champions League.
Despite all this positivity, there have been frustrations surrounding the Villans after a lack of transfer activity to this point, with Evann Guessand being the only outfield addition.
That annoyance wasn’t helped as Villa scraped a point in a 0-0 draw with Newcastle United on opening day, something which could result in Emery replicating former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou in the coming months.
Emery could soon follow Postecoglou’s footsteps
As it stands, the former Celtic boss is without a job, having been sacked by Daniel Levy and replaced by Thomas Frank at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
This came after a dreadful Premier League season, which saw Spurs fall to 17th in the table after losing 22 games throughout the year.
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This record was secured after losing to Brighton on the final day of the campaign, after Tottenham lost to Aston Villa in their last away game.
In between those two clashes, the Lilywhites lifted the Europa League after a 1-0 win in the final against Bilbao, something that wasn’t enough for Postecoglou to keep his job in North London.
It is the potential of also winning the European honour that has caught the eye at Villa Park, something which Emery is no stranger to doing.
With that in mind, former England goalkeeper coach Dave Watson has told the Football Fill-In (19 August) that he could see the Villans going all in on the Europa League, in a similar vein to Spurs.
He said: “I think he’s brought into the project and has found it really tough this summer in terms of where they’re at, but look, he’s a good coach and the team will be as good as he can make them.
“He may even do what Ange Postecoglou did last season, get to Christmas, see where they are in the league and go all in on the Europa League.”
Aston Villa won’t want to echo Tottenham’s failings
It is fair to say that everyone associated with the claret and blue outfit wants to win a trophy, but that can’t be at the expense of league form.
This comes as the financial disparity between Premier League positions will likely have too much of an impact on the Villans for years to come.
This has already been seen after the defeat to Manchester United on the last day of the season, something which has thrown the current summer window into disrepute.
As a result, putting all eggs into one basket for the rest of the year could prove to be a recipe for disaster, not only for Emery but for Nassef Sawiris after his constant financial complaints about Villa.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the B6 club can balance domestic and European competition, but their manager has more than his fair share of experience, having already won the Europa League on four times.
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As the current campaign moves deeper, there is no doubt that Emery will want to make that five before the end of the season.