Unai Emery name-drops Leicester City as stunning Aston Villa targets unveiled

Unai Emery has revealed his genuine and realistic ambitions to guide Aston Villa to their first-ever Premier League title, albeit with some extra tinkering.

The Spaniard has already done sensationally to pilot the Villans to not only a first European campaign in a dozen years but also a semi-final on the nearby continent. Villa could still yet win the UEFA Europa Conference League, while a top-four finish looks likely to secure Champions League qualification for next season.

But these achievements are merely the start of the steep upward trajectory Emery has meticulously planned. Winning Europe’s third-most elite competition would certainly be a tremendous feat - one up there with the famous 1982 European Cup win - but the objectives for the football club go far further.

Further progression won’t happen overnight but the building blocks are there and Emery is committed to carrying out his promises. “Our level is not enough now to fight for the Premier League but of course, I want to increase our level and our development with the players, the club, and our structure,” Emery told beIN SPORTS Asia.

“There are the possibilities economically to get more money, to get closer to the other teams now fighting for the Premier League - Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. I’m realistic but ambitious. Sometimes it’s difficult to share the realistic with the ambitious but you have to break something.

“To break something, for example here did Leicester City to win the Premier League. I want to be consistent, more than to win one year and not be consistent for the next year. I prefer our increase getting better progressively, of course being ambitious but doing each step solid in our structure,” Emery continued.

Just one Premier League would be a crowning attainment for both the club and manager but Emery, as outlined, has plans to win several. The economic advances mentioned likely include the recent bumper £40 million front-of-shirt sponsor deal with Kaizen Gaming’s Betano brand. Finishing higher in the Premier League standings will also grant better prize money, too.

It will take time and patience but Villa could genuinely be on track to achieve exactly what the forever ambitious Emery intends.