Unai Emery continued his exceptional record in European competitions when Villarreal stunned Bayern Munich on Tuesday night – and his latest triumph was of particular interest to the Premier League.
Emery’s success with Villarreal is not just turning heads for Arsenal supporters, but also fans of many other clubs, who are watching ex-players from their teams producing staggering performances on the biggest stage. Villarreal have now beaten Juventus and Bayern in the knockout stages of the Champions League and will face the winner of Wednesday’s second leg between Liverpool and Benfica.
There is a distinct Premier League feel to Emery’s team. Of the starting line-up against Bayern, five had experience in the English top flight. Meanwhile, left-back Pervis Estupinan spent four years at Watford without making a single appearance for the club, and Dani Parejo spent time on loan with QPR in 2008 when they were in the Championship.
The wider squad has plenty of other players who have flopped in the Premier League but now find themselves in the Champions League semi-finals. Here are seven who have been revitalised under the infamous former Arsenal manager with Villareal.
Etienne Capoue
Capoue is the most experienced of the players on this list, having made 180 Premier League appearances for Tottenham and Watford. While he was successful with the Hornets, with whom he spent six years, his stay at Spurs was nothing to write home about.
Tottenham shelled out £9.3million to sign him from Toulouse in August 2013, with Capoue snubbing Cardiff City and Atletico Madrid to move to north London. He arrived as a 25-year-old with much promise, having already won six caps for France, but he failed to make an impact in Andre Villas Boas’ side – much like fellow arrival Roberto Soldado.
There is no doubt that Capoue has found his feet with Villarreal, though. Now aged 33 he is a driving and commanding presence in midfield and was the man of the match in the Yellow Submarine’s Europa League final win over Manchester United last year.
Juan Foyth
Another former Tottenham player who couldn't hack it in the Premier League. Foyth signed a five-year contract with Spurs when he joined for £8m from Argentine club Estudiantes in the summer of 2017, but by the time he left permanently four years later he had racked up just 32 appearances altogether – and only 16 in the Premier League.
The gangly defender never looked the part with Spurs but is a fixture in Emery’s Villarreal side, having spent last season on loan there. The 24-year-old is not a showy player, and rarely gets forward much from right-back, but is a solid and dependable defender.
Vicente Iborra
Iborra is a candidate for one of the most forgettable spells in the Premier League. The Spanish midfielder joined Leicester City for £15m on a four-year contract from Sevilla in July 2017. He and his family struggled to settle in England and he made just 37 appearances, contributing four goals and two assists across all competitions.
Leicester were happy to find a home for him in 2019, selling to Villarreal in 2019. Iborra is more of a squad player for Emery, making 17 appearances so far this season as his career winds down.
Alberto Moreno
To describe Moreno as a ‘flop’ at Liverpool is to do the left-back a slight disservice, but he certainly did not enjoy a straightforward time on Merseyside. He joined Liverpool for £12m from Sevilla in August 2014 and was first-choice left-back at the club for his first two seasons there. But the final three of his five years with Liverpool were much less enjoyable for the Spaniard. Andy Robertson joined the club in 2017 and his services were no longer really required.
Moreno helped Villarreal win the Europa League last year and remains a key player for the club when he is fit. Estupinan is currently filling in at left-back after Moreno suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear last month.
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Francis Coquelin
Coquelin was with Arsenal for 10 years, so cannot be considered a straightforward flop either – such longevity means he must have done something right. But the Frenchman’s reputation in Spain is much better than it is in England, where he was defined by inconsistency.
Coquelin made 160 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions – 105 of which came in the Premier League – before being sold to Valencia in 2018. He has since moved onto Villarreal, where he has enjoyed the best spell of his career. “I’ll tell you the truth – I knew they had an ambitious project when I came here,” he told beIN Sports of his move to the club in August 2020. “There was the Europa League, they had a coach with a lot of experience, who was won titles.”
Arnaut Danjuma
Danjuma’s Premier League record reads: played 14, no goals, no assists from 625 minutes of action. He was signed by Bournemouth in the summer of 2019 for over £13m but was a slow burn on the south coast – and it was only once they were relegated to the Championship that Danjuma caught fire.
After a fantastic season in the Championship, in which he contributed 15 goals and seven assists from the wing, he was signed for £21.3m by Villarreal in August 2021. He has kicked on impressively in Spain and led the line alongside Gerard Moreno against Bayern – a performance that was watched by Manchester United’s scouts, according to the Daily Mail .
“If we look at what I’ve done this season it’s quite fair and factual to say I’m among the best wingers in the world,” Danjuma told The Guardian last week. It’s been quite the turnaround.
Serge Aurier
Aurier was the dictionary definition of unreliable during his four years with Tottenham. Yes, he contributed eight goals and 17 assists in 110 appearances for the club, but there was also countless individual mistakes, poor tackles and losses of concentration. Aurier cost Spurs £23m in August 2017; by October 2021 they were so desperate to get rid of him that they cancelled his contract by mutual consent.
Aurier has made 17 appearances for Villarreal since joining from Tottenham – but it is hardly surprising that Emery has preferred the more conservative, and some would argue reliable, Foyth at right-back in the big Champions League games against Bayern.
