At Unai Emery’s unveiling, the Aston Villa manager stated his desire to win trophies.
Almost three years later he is still waiting and the task is getting harder.
Not that it worries the head coach.
“If we are complaining about working hard, we are not in the right way,” Emery tells BBC Sport.
Villa have already learned quickly under Emery how to outthink rival teams, and the former Villarreal boss believes the club still rank behind seven others when it comes to financial muscle.
They upset the order in 2023-24 to qualify for the Champions League, and on the final day last season were in the top-five hunt until a controversial defeat at Manchester United forced them to settle for the Europa League.
Emery has raised standards and expectations at Villa Park, having succeeded Steven Gerrard in October 2022 when the team sat 14th and only three points above the Premier League relegation zone.
Saturday’s Villa Park opener against Newcastle – the team who beat Villa to the final Champions League spot in May – represents a tough start but the sort Emery will relish.
Last season’s implosion in the FA Cup semi-final to Crystal Palace stung more than most, especially after the Europa Conference League semi-final defeat to Olympiakos in 2024.
A thrilling Champions League quarter-final defeat to Paris St-Germain in April saw Villa compete with the best, but while they went close it was not close enough.
The gap is growing, especially with the club’s financial limitations. Captain John McGinn has bemoaned the gulf between Villa and the ‘big six’, and Emery is still painting Villa as the underdog.
“We are not with the same capacity like Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham, Newcastle, Manchester City or Chelsea or Arsenal, but we have our power and we have to be positive and work hard with our capacity to be with them,” says Emery.
“At the beginning they have the capacity to get something more.
“We are talking about a lot of teams who are spending a lot of money, but we are going to focus on ourselves. We are getting the belief, of course; we have to believe in our sporting objective through our capacity.
“You have to be intelligent against other teams who have more options than us to be in the top seven. We must be proud how we are building and being competitive.”
Emery – a four-time Europa League winner – is Villa’s biggest weapon.
Under his leadership they have finished seventh, fourth and sixth, threatening to consistently crack the top five.
“To be in the Premier League in the position we are finishing in the last three years is fantastic,” Emery says.
“We are thinking about how we did last year and trying to learn and avoid some mistakes we made.
“We were not being a competitive team like I want for one part of the season, mostly the first part. I will have to avoid it and try to be consistent.
“How we did the second part was amazing. We finished in the last 20 matches maybe second or third in the table. This is something we have to link in the season.”
