The president of Villarreal has said he has ‘no doubts’ about Unai Emery and his professionalism, amid heavy speculation linking him with Newcastle United.
Reports have been swirling today that the Spaniard is now Newcastle’s top choice to replace Steve Bruce.
The Guardian say this evening he is ‘close’ to returning to the Premier League.
The 49-year-old has emerged as the frontrunner over the last 24 hours or so.
Publications are all adding their own bits of information, but has anything come from Villarreal?
Well Fernando Roig, their president has actually commented on the situation.
He claimed earlier today that he doesn’t know anything about the rumours.
He told TMW: “Emery is a great professional, I am convinced that at this moment he is only thinking at tonight’s game with Young Boys.
“I don’t know anything about these rumors about Newcastle, Unai has a contract with us and the contracts are meant to be respected.
“Today and Sunday we have two complicated and important matches. I trust in Emery’s professionalism, I have no doubts about him.”
Villarreal are in Champions League action tonight against Young Boys in what is their fourth game of the competition.
It will be interesting to see how they get on, in what is a big game for the Spanish club.
They’re currently second in Group F. Manchester United are top, one point ahead.
But they’re level on points with Atalanta and just one ahead of Young Boys.
Tonight could yield answers
Perhaps tonight will shed some more light on how close Emery is to becoming the next Newcastle manager, if at all.
It will be interesting to see how he acknowledges the supporters. Will there be a wave goodbye? Time will tell.
This could just be a case of Roig trying to play everything down in order for Emery and the team to focus.
Ultimately there has been a lot of noise today, and it would be a surprise if Newcastle didn’t press ahead and pay Villarreal compensation at this point.
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