Former Manchester United scout Mick Brown has stated a new Aston Villa contract does not “rule out” Unai Emery leaving the club – which is indeed how it works.

Emery has transformed Villa into a Champions League threat. He joined a club labouring in the bottom half of the Premier League in 2022, and they’re currently one of the top six sides in Europe’s elite competition.

Villa won the Europa League under Emery last season and though the majority of that starting XI left in the summer, the Villans remain very competitive.

As such, the club’s fans have laughed off suggestions he’d walk away for 17th-placed Premier League club Manchester United, amid constant links.

Respected outlets have revealed Emery is closing in on a new Villa deal, after the club themselves released a statement regarding their objective for all of their decision-makers to commit to helping them win some of the biggest titles in the coming years.

Former United scout Brown has stated that doesn’t necessarily stop Emery from walking away if he wanted to.

He told Football Insider: “Just to make something clear, signing a new contract is unlikely to mean any exit is ruled out.

“It obviously makes it a lot harder, it’s a commitment from Emery and it’s a commitment from the club, but we all know contracts can be broken and they can be paid out.

“What getting Emery to sign a new deal does is, it means that any compensation fee is now likely to be huge, and so that could put clubs off making a move.

“In the immediate future, it’s clear he has no intention of leaving Aston Villa, and that’s obviously going to be great news for them.

“But it doesn’t rule out the possibility that he could, in the duration of any new contract, still leave Aston Villa if a club makes an approach.

“It’s not something I expect to happen because by all accounts things are going well and everybody is happy with what he’s doing, but it’s still a possibility for the future.”

Unai Emery is going nowhere

Brown himself states he doesn’t expect Emery to go anywhere, but he has the option should he want to. That is indeed how the concept of free will works, yes.

Everybody is aware any manager could depart for another club regardless of their contract situation, provided that club was willing to pay the compensation.

But Emery has no designs to leave Villa, quite evidently, and the commitment of a new deal only furthers that view.

It is a pretty irrelevant suggestion that he could hypothetically leave the club one day, no time soon, given how committed he is and has been since he joined the club.

Emery is in a far better position with Villa than he would be at United, and he is aware he’s the driving force in the club’s direction.

At Old Trafford, he’d be a cog in a machine which could be discarded the moment the board didn’t see his full worth.

He could leave Villa, one day, sure. He isn’t going to leave Villa soon enough for this to be a story.