Aston Villa confirm Unai Emery backroom team - including Liverpool Champions League winner

Aston Villa have confirmed six of the backroom staff members who will be joining Unai Emery’s new-look coaching team at Villa Park. It includes a former UEFA Champions League winner and a few faces very familiar to the new head coach.

Emery’s assistant manager has officially been announced as Pako Ayestaran, who has had a successful career in three roles - as a fitness coach, an assistant, and as a manager himself. More recently he was the manager of CD Tondela, but was Rafa Benitez’s number two for a long time in the early 2000s.

During a stint at Liverpool between 2004 and 2007, the Spaniard helped Benitez’s Reds win the Champions League in Istanbul. Since 2013, Ayestaran has taken charge of seven teams - Tecos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Santos Laguna, Valencia, Las Palmas, Pachuca, and most recently Tondela.

Others announced as part of Emery’s backroom staff are Pablo Villanueva (first team coach), Francisco Javier Garcia (goalkeeping coach), Antonio Rodriguez Saravia (individual performance coach), Victor Manuel Manas (data/video analyst), and Moises de Hoyo (strength and conditioning coach).

Emery’s first game in charge of Villa, with the help of his new staff members, is on Sunday, November 6 at home to Manchester United. The match kicks off at 2pm.