Unai emery is going through a great time since arriving at Villarreal, with good results and a team that grows day after day. The good feelings are transferred to the players, as the coach seems to have found a way to ensure that the vast majority are playing at a very high level.
Within that good level, there is also a group of players who at first did not enter much into the club's plans, or did not aim to have a weight within the team. Players like Alfonso Pedraza, Jaume Costa or Mario Gaspar, They started the campaign with many doubts regarding their continuity or ownership. And today the three have weight in the team, they have earned the return to eleven and, in addition, they aim to be weight players this season. Emery was able to rule them out, as there were options for it, but decided to keep them on the roster.
In the case of Mario Gaspar, The coach already acknowledged to AS that “things were not clear, so I spoke with him and told him that I wanted to see Mario international, that I could get that out of him, but that it depended on his desire and his motivation”, something that ended with the motivated player and right now as a starter.
In the case of Alfonso Pedraza, The player seemed more outside than inside the club, but from the first day the coach was clear that he wanted him in his team. Emery conveyed to the club his intention to have Pedraza, in addition to convincing the player that his continuity would be good for all parties. A continuity that today makes Pedraza one of the most outstanding and fit players of the team.
Finally I was Jaume costa, who was returning to the team as the fourth left back, a situation that invited more to think about leaving the club. But Emery let him continue in the team, looking for a role as a veteran player with a presence in Europe and with a new position in the midfield. A bet that the coach valued as “an option that can help the team a lot”.