Unai Emery Profile

Unai Emery is a Spanish soccer manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Villarreal in La Liga and has previously managed Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.

As a player, Emery turned out for Real Sociedad, Toledo, Racing Ferrol, Leganes and Lorca Deportiva.

Emery won three UEFA Europa League titles in a row with Sevilla between 2013/14 and 2015/16. He also won Ligue 1 in 2017/18 with Paris Saint-Germain.

Emery is also known for his success at Valencia when he managed the club from 2008 to 2012, having guided Los Che into the UEFA Champions League places consistently in a highly competitive La Liga.

During his time at Valencia, the club sold David Villa and David Silva to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively, but he managed to maintain a steady level of performance.

Unai Emery became Arsenal manager after the 2017/18 season, replacing the departing Arsene Wenger, who had been in charge of Arsenal for 22 years.

"I'm very excited to be given the responsibility to start this important new chapter in Arsenal's history," he said upon his appointment.

"I am thrilled to be joining one of the great clubs in the game. Arsenal is known and loved throughout the world for its style of play, its commitment to young players, the fantastic stadium, the way the club is run.

"I'm excited about what we can do together and I look forward to giving everyone who loves Arsenal some special moments and memories."

Expectations were high for Emery, as Wenger had set high standards in the early years of his reign with three Premier League titles, but the Gunners had not triumphed since 2003/04.

Emery struggled to get Arsenal to adjust to his brand of football in his first few matches, but familiarity arrived with time.

In the end, 2018/19 was a season of near misses for Emery and Arsenal. They finished fifth in the Premier League, one point behind Chelsea, who beat them to UEFA Champions League qualification, and they lost 4-1 to the Blues in the UEFA Europa League final in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The 2019/20 campaign started off poorly and pressure began to mount on Emery. After a run of seven matches without a win, Emery was sacked in November 2019 and replaced by Freddie Ljungberg as head coach on an interim basis.

Eventually, Mikel Arteta was appointed into the role on a permanent basis. It had been reported at the time of Emery's appointment that Arteta had been considered for the job at that time, but Emery had beaten him to the position.

Emery left Arsenal with 43 wins, 16 draws and 19 defeats from his 78 matches in charge of the Gunners. His overall win percentage worked out to 55.1%.

Unai Emery replaced Laurent Blanc as Paris Saint-Germain manager after the 2016/17 season. His reign at PSG got off to a challenging start, as his first campaign saw the emergence of a golden generation of AS Monaco players.

Monaco ended PSG's run of dominance in France, winning the Ligue 1 title. To make matters worse for PSG, they were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16 by Barcelona in humiliating fashion. Despite winning the first leg 4-0, they were hammered 6-1 in the second.

However, Emery did manage to win the Coupe de France, Coupe de La Ligue and the Trophee des Champions in his first season.

In 2017, PSG signed Neymar for a transfer fee of €222million - a world record. They also signed Monaco's star player, Kylian Mbappe, on loan.

The 2017/18 season was more successful for Emery in terms of trophies. PSG won the Ligue 1 title back and also retained all three of the cup competitions he had won in his first season. However, in the Champions League, they were once again beaten in the round of 16, losing 5-2 on aggregate to eventual champions Real Madrid.

Emery left PSG with a year left on his contract at the end of the 2017/18 season and was succeeded by Thomas Tuchel. On his way out, he was quoted as saying that the club was in the process of transitioning to one led by Neymar, apparently implying that the Brazil international had more power than any other individual at the club. It was reported that he was uneasy with this level of player power.

Emery took over as Sevilla head coach in January 2014, replacing Michel following his sacking. Emery had previously presided over Valencia for four years before leaving Spanish football to take on a managerial role with Spartak Moscow. Sevilla brought him back into La Liga after a brief and largely unsuccessful stint in Russia.

In his first season, Emery steered Sevilla to fifth in La Liga and the UEFA Europa League title. His side beat Benfica in the final of the latter on penalties.

In 2014/15, Emery once again led Sevilla to fifth place as they finished one point behind his former club, Valencia, in the La Liga standings. They beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the final of the UEFA Europa League to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

The 2015/16 season saw Sevilla finish seventh in La Liga under Emery. They were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League after finishing third in Group D behind Manchester City and Juventus. However, they won the UEFA Europa League once again as they beat Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool 3-1 in the final.

Emery left Sevilla at the end of the 2015/16 season and took over the managerial reigns at PSG.

Unai Emery married Luisa Fernandez in 1998 and the couple have a teenage son, Lander, who was a youth goalkeeper for Valencia.

Emery's father and grandfather, Juan and Antonio respectively, were also footballers - both goalkeepers, whereas he was a left-sided midfielder. His uncle, Roman, also played football as a midfielder.

Emery earned a reported £6million per year during his time as Arsenal head coach. It is unknown exactly what his net worth is.

During his time at Paris Saint-Germain, he reportedly earned £4.3million per year.