Although we are only a few games into the 2023/24 season, Unai Emery has Aston Villa flying high and playing on the front foot, and they’ve been great to watch.
The Spaniard is building a squad capable of challenging domestically and in Europe, and if they’re able to continue in the same way in which they’ve begun the campaign, there’s no reason why they can’t taste success again at Villa Park.
A squad evolution isn’t necessarily on the cards, though teams do generally evolve over the years bit by bit.
As West Ham found when losing talisman, Declan Rice, too, sometimes a reshuffle is forced upon you.
There isn’t anything to suggest at this stage that €55m/£47m-rated (transfermarkt) Douglas Luiz is going anywhere, however, it’s believed that the standard of his performances are getting teams across Europe sitting up and taking notice.
That could well be a worry for Emery, and journalist, Dean Jones, sounded a warning to Villa when speaking to Give Me Sport.
“Luiz is probably one of the best players in that Aston Villa team generally, but under Emery, he just seems to have gone to another level again. It’s a player that Champions League clubs have had an eye on, and you can understand why when you see the levels he’s now managing to reach under Emery,” he said.
“It’ll be interesting if he continues to play the way he’s been playing across the course of an entire season how Villa manage to hold on to a player like this because he’s so impressive and composed. It’s not like it’s a one-off season. He’s a player that’s had this in his locker for years, and Aston Villa are making the most of how good he is. They’re thriving as a result of his success.”
For now, Emery and his backroom staff have got plenty of other footballing distractions to worry about, not least keeping themselves as high up the Premier League table as possible, as well as gaining a foothold in their Europa Conference League group.