Unai Emery has won the Europa League four times in his careerVillarreal's former Arsenal manager Unai Emery has emerged as Aston Villa's prime target to succeed the sacked Steven Gerrard.
Talks were ongoing on Monday night to bring the 50-year-old to Villa.
Gerrard was dismissed last week following a 3-0 Premier League defeat by Fulham.
Villa went on to beat Brentford 4-0 on Sunday under caretaker Aaron Danks, just the side's third win this season in the Premier League.
Emery is out of contract at the Spanish club next summer and has not yet signed a new deal with the La Liga outfit.
The ex-Arsenal boss joined Villarreal in 2020, having been dismissed by the Gunners in 2019.
As the successor to Arsene Wenger, Emery spent 18 months at the Emirates but was sacked after failing to win in seven games, their worst run at the time since February 1992.
During his stint in north London he led the Gunners to the final of the Europa League, losing to Chelsea in 2019.
Two years later he lifted the trophy with Villarreal and guided the side to last year's Champions League semi-finals, where they were defeated 3-2 by Liverpool on aggregate.
The Spanish side currently sit seventh in the league.
In three years at Sevilla from 2013-16 he claimed three successive Europa League titles and then took over at Paris St-Germain, where he won Ligue 1 and two French Cups.
Emery was approached by Newcastle last year following the departure of Steve Bruce but turned down the position.
Villa have also held talks with representatives of Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorin.
