Unai Emery has admitted that he has a "big challenge ahead" after being tasked with turning around Aston Villa's fortunes.
The Spaniard took his first training session with Villa's players at their Bodymoor Heath HQ on Wednesday after receiving visa clearance. Emery, whose first game comes against Manchester United on Sunday, tweeted: "Day 1. Big challenge ahead. As big as the greatness of Aston Villa."
The ex-Arsenal boss and four-time Europa League winner has swapped Villarreal for a return to the Premier League to replace Steven Gerrard at Villa Park. Villa's owners want Emery to eventually deliver European football - but the immediate priority is ensuring 16th-placed Villa avoid being dragged into a relegation scrap.
Former Villa boss Tim Sherwood is confident he can do both, if given time. “It’s a huge job - as soon as he walks into that football club he’ll realise how big it is,” Sherwood told talkSPORT. “He’s an intelligent man. I'm sure he has a clear idea what he wants to do.
"He is going to have now until the end of the season to have a good look at this group and decide what he needs in the transfer window. They’re not getting relegated, they’ve got too many good players for that and there’s too many bad teams in the league.
"He will need to progress the club. In the future they will need to be looking to the top six and being competitive in the domestic cups. They are capable of doing that. They have the finances and they have the man now and they need to trust him."
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And former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor reckons Emery now needs to hand the captaincy back to Tyrone Mings, who lost it to John McGinn in the summer. "Let John McGinn go back to the John McGinn before the armband, playing freely and going and enjoying his game," Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
“Not the negativity around some fans not wanting him to be captain. Give it back to Tyrone Mings, he looks like he loves being captain. You know so people who just love having the armband and before the game in the changing and on the pitch they are the loudest. It was very strange for Gerrard to take it off him.”
Emery recently explained why he has decided to leave Villarreal behind for Aston Villa and another shot at the Premier League, following his sacking by Arsenal in 2019. "Here I have felt something of heart again, but the profession is within me," he said.
"This one, I have considered that I had to take it, as a sports challenge, as a different project. It is a personal and professional decision. I left home at the age of 24 and opened myself up to the professional world of football with all the consequences."
