Unai Emery is closer than far from staying at Villarreal

Unai Emery’s words after the game against the Young Boys regarding Newcastle’s interest sounded like goodbye. Or at least they would sound like that to 99% of soccer professionals. But Unai must be pigeonholed in that 1% that is different. Emery, at this time, is closer than far from La Cerámica and, except for a new turn of the stage, the Basque has decided to stay at Villarreal. And so he transmitted it last night to Fernando Roig father and son, with whom he spoke after the game, before and after his press conference.

Emery may have been sincere and that is why his words gave rise to anger in part of the yellow world, because of the fact that he did not close the door of Newcastle. A blunt message was expected, which would settle the uncertainty. The opposite would be interpreted as a desire to leave. But it was by no means forceful. “I know there is an interest and I have not said no,” Emery said. In turn, he indicated that he has not yet received an “offer” and spoke of “respect” and “loyalty” to Villarreal. Curiously, his speech was understood as the opposite, because 99% of the time when the protagonist says there is interest, what they are really saying is that they have a closed agreement or almost. But Unai, as we said, is part of that other 1%, of which sins for excess of frankness, to really say what there is without calculating the consequences and the background that his words also have, a mistake, because it gives rise to interpretations and prejudices.

Newcastle have him in mind, in fact he is their first candidate, although a negotiation has not yet been deepened. And if this were to occur, which seems a matter of hours, Emery will notify Fernando Roig. “I would be the first to know,” said the coach, who evidently You have two ways to choose: either say to the firm offer “thank you, but no” to Newcastle or reach an agreement with Roig. In truth, the president of Villarreal, at this point, would care little when to find out, because he did not stop learning of the interest of the English club by third parties and for him there would be no room for any negotiation. “The contracts are to be fulfilled,” said Roig. That is to say, if Emery wanted to break it, he knows what compensation to pay: 6 million. But that is not his will.

The information disseminated from the offices of The Magpies they are the ones that contributed the most to interpreting Emery’s message as goodbye. Or the sum of them and also Emery’s contradictory speeches, because he said on Monday that he knew nothing about the English club and yet on Tuesday he recognized at least the “interest.” This was the culmination of a day in which from England it had even been published that Newcastle intends that this Saturday they are already directing the team from their bench. But it seems that the new English owners have gone faster in thought and with their leaks than in deeds, assuming that Emery, their chosen one, will not say no to their proposal when presented.

Emery’s frankness, even though he has nothing closed with Newcastle and is even closer to continuing than to leaving, generated collateral damage at Villarreal. The club, the locker room, does not know at this time if the conductor of his train is going to continue or is going to jump on the call of a project that is only known to have petrodollars. The feeling remains that his final decision will depend on the offer that Newcastle presents to him – if it is presented to him. In other words, although the Villarreal project motivates him, there is the possibility that the other will end up liking him more. A) Yes, no matter how much that possibility, that of going to Newcastle was according to their “remote” environment, altered and reduced the Villarreal-Emery relationship for the future., because just as now it has not been blunt before the English interest, leaving the entity in a state of doubt and defenselessness in the face of the sheik’s money in the middle of the season – after having made him a tailor-made team (Danjuma? Aurier, Estupiñán …) – at any other time his doubts could return.