Official: Milan’s shortlist gets shorter as Emery renews with Aston Villa

AC Milan have looked at Unai Emery as a candidate to replace Stefano Pioli when the Italian manager departed. However, the Spaniard has signed a new contract with his current club, ruling out a move away from the club.

All signs point to separation between Milan and their current coach, and it could be argued that due to the management’s reluctance to go on separate paths sooner, they have lost out on favoured replacements.

Recently, it has been reported that Thiago Motta is a strong candidate for the Juventus job – at one point, Motta led the Rossoneri’s list of favoured replacements. Following today’s news of Emery’s extension, the list is slowly shortening.

In an official statement on the Aston Villa website, the club confirmed that Emery had extended his deal until 2027 – the Spaniard and the club’s chairman, Nassef Sawiris, cited the great relationship shared as a motivator to extend his contract.

“We are thrilled and are building a sporting operation around Unai to support him with a view of returning Aston Villa to its historic levels of greatness.”

This summer, the management market is expected to be very busy with several clubs set to change their respective head coaches, so with that in mind, Milan must act quickly to identify and hire their favoured candidate instead of being left red-faced if they elongate the recruitment process longer than required.