Emery vows to keep Aston Villa moving forward as they take on PSG

Ebullient manager takes his side to Salzburg to cross swords with the European champions in the Super Cup

One thing was almost instantly detectable as Unai Emery walked into a stuffy room inside the Red Bull Arena on the eve of Wednesday’s Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain. After a summer of change, Aston Villa’s manager appeared uber-relaxed, confident his team will absorb a series of headline departures. He cracked a joke about his English improving and poked fun at John McGinn, impersonating his captain while next to him on the auditorium’s top table.

Emery was in a jovial mood, then. But he was also switched on, alert to the frequency, the tone of the wave of questions at the beginning of his fourth full season in the job. “You ask about the changes of coaches and players, but McGinn is intelligent and his answer was fantastic,” Emery said with a smile. “When he arrived here [in 2018] they were in the Championship and every year since there have been changes and still the club has moved forward.