Aston Villa 2026-27 preview: Can Unai Emery deliver again with an evolving squad?

Unai Emery is the second-longest-serving manager in the Premier League. This will be his fourth full campaign with Aston Villa. It follows his most successful one last year, ending magnificently with Europa League silverware.

This season feels different. Questions no longer centre on marking this era with a trophy, but on how much juice is left to squeeze. Villa are undergoing a transitional phase. They will aim to maintain — or improve — standards. It will be a taxing task, yet challenges this steep come only from a sustained period of excellence.

The Athletic takes you through what to expect in the upcoming 2026-27 campaign…

What are the expectations inside the club?

Emery repeatedly asserts that there are “six or seven contenders more (equipped) than us”, which is probably true considering the better-established reputations of others. However, few teams have shown such consistency since his arrival in October 2022. Emery’s objective will always be the Premier League and achieving Champions League qualification. Even with the changes this summer, that is what he will set out to do.

Who have they signed?

As was widely anticipated leading into the window, Villa have had to sell to buy and therefore had to replace. Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers have left, with Joao Gomes signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Johan Manzambi, in a club-record agreement, coming in from Freiburg. Alejandro Garnacho moved in the opposite direction to Rogers, joining from Chelsea, while Matteo Ruggeri from Atletico Madrid will replace the outgoing Lucas Digne at left-back. Villa similarly moved quickly to secure Zion Suzuki, sanctioning Emiliano Martinez’s departure.

The Athletic revealed on Monday evening that Villa were closing on an agreement with Aaron Wan-Bissaka from West Ham United. The deal is an option, although it has scope to become an obligation dependent on certain conditions.

Joao Gomes has settled in quickly at Aston Villa (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

What is their transfer priority before the window closes?

There are several positions Villa are still looking to fill. This includes the right-back slot, another central midfielder, another wide player and an attacking midfielder. This, as is the way with the Villans, can swiftly change depending on Emery’s rationale and whether or not certain players leave. For example, if one centre-forward departs, Villa would want a replacement. The same is true in central defence.

What else is new?

Emery’s backroom staff has required surgery. His assistant Pako Ayestaran departed, while Rodri, Villa’s individual development coach, had decided he was joining Cesc Fabregas at Serie A side Como before the end of last season. Jaime Arias Galan, a technical assistant, also wished to explore a new opportunity overseas. By this stage, Villa had already lost two physios and its head of medical services, Arnaldo Abrantes, to Arsenal.

The highest-profile exit was set-piece coach Austin MacPhee. He informed Villa’s senior figures that he wished to leave on July 23 and ended up joining Chelsea. Villa have replaced Ayestaran with Chema Sanz from Osasuna. Alberto Carbo will step up to take Rodri’s place and the club are in talks with Burnley for their set-piece coach, Pal Fjelde.

What’s the biggest lesson they learned last season?

That despite tumult and prolonged periods of poor form – having endured a terrible start and with the end of their league campaign similarly tailing off – Villa can find a way to win. Emery knows that his side are robust when battling adversity yet need to find a way to rectify blind spots in their game, such as the tendency to drift through certain matches and against specific tactical challenges. This summer’s squad renewal might help provide some much-needed freshness.

Who’s been the best player in pre-season?

Joao Gomes has started life superbly at Villa. Emery has tended to refine his central midfielders and, after signing from Wolves for a fee in the region of £35million ($47m), the Brazil international appears to be the next in line. Intense, aggressive and sharper with his metronomic quality, the 25-year-old has adapted quickly in pre-season, dominating central areas and scoring goals. Without Amadou Onana, who will be on the injury list for the foreseeable future after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing for Belgium at the World Cup, he should form a strong axis alongside Boubacar Kamara.

What are they worried about?

Can Villa go again after the heady heights of last season? The pressure to win silverware might be off, but this summer is when Villa are entering into more unknowns than ever before under Emery. Not only do they have new players and new staff, but they will also once again be faced with their manager’s perennial demand for improvement.

How’s the manager feeling?

Emery was aware there would be challenges over the summer, leading to player departures. Yet there is a sense, publicly anyway, that a change in the squad could offer a fresh stimulus for the players who remain. And Emery himself. Approaching four years in the hot seat at Villa, he has only Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta ahead of him for time served in their current role among Premier League managers.

“I feel like the club is in a new era, with this possibility to fight for trophies,” Emery told UEFA last month. “Winning the Champions League is something I dream of. I see teams that have come close to a level similar to ours over the years – three years ago, Borussia Dortmund reached the final; Villarreal reached the semi-finals against Liverpool and came close to reaching the final.

“So, at Aston Villa, we’ll also try to be a competitive team, a team that is renowned, that’s closer to winning than losing, and that’s back in contention or capable of competing with the best teams to win titles.”

What’s the percentage chance of Emery seeing out the season?

Nothing in life is guaranteed, but as near a 100 per cent certainty as there can be among Premier League managers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if…

Villa evolve tactically. Changing in-possession structure, particularly the speed of how they attack and the positioning of players out wide. The profile of those recruited this window and those they hope to recruit suggests subtle changes may arise. The Super Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain showed greater intensity and ability to stretch their opponents vertically, aided by a younger, renewed squad.

What is their strongest XI?

Suzuki; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Kamara; McGinn, Manzambi, Buendia; Watkins