Nicolo Zaniolo firmly believes Aston Villa have a “world-class” figure who is on the “same level” as his counterpart at Manchester City.
Villa’s rise has been one of the stories of the season but even so, not many would even mention some of their most influential figures in the same breath as those at the Etihad Stadium.
After all, Manchester City are one of the elite clubs in the game and they are rightly pitted alongside the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
Nicolo Zaniolo says Unai Emery is on the “same level” as Pep Guardiola
But Nicolo Zaniolo feels that Unai Emery is just as brilliant a manager as Pep Guardiola.
“Unai Emery is one of the best managers in the world, at the same level of Pep Guardiola, [Jurgen] Klopp and [Jose] Mourinho”, he told Corriero dello Sport during an interview.
“It’s true, I’m not having a lot of game time and I was expecting more.”
“But I’m honest enough to say that Emery is a world-class coach.”
The consensus is that the two-time treble-winning manager is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, with Gerard Pique recently naming him as the undisputed best.
Pep Guardiola is on another stratosphere to the Aston Villa boss
In our view, Nicolo Zaniolo is correct in regarding Unai Emery as a “world-class coach” but to compare him to Pep Guardiola is a step too far.
Emery has done wonderful things at Villareal, Sevilla and now Aston Villa but he is yet to win titles as prestigious as Guardiola has.
Nor has the £144,000-a-week manager had even a remotely similar influence as Guardiola on the progression of tactics in football.
Managing at the highest level, Unai Emery has also failed to cover himself in glory on several instances at both Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.
Especially at the Emirates Stadium, in which his Gunners side capitulated in their race for the top four and were annihilated 4-1 by Chelsea in the Europa League final.
In the following campaign, Emery was sacked.
The same cannot be said for Guardiola, who has always proven why he is the perfect appointment for the best teams in Europe and continues to raise the bar for other managers to reach, such as his countryman.
Unai Emery, like a majority of managers in world football have plenty to do to have the honour of being likened to Pep Guardiola.
