A look at the Dugout road in Villa Park Tonight should tell Unai Emery that if Aston Villa will miss the Champions League football next season, this is not the end of the world.
If Ange Postecoglou can lead his stumbling Tottenham side to a Europa League final, where a victory will take them to the Champions League, Emery could certainly do the same with Villa.
But ending in the top five, this period would solve various problems for Villa, whose high won account means that they perform a constant balance practice to remain in accordance with spending rules.
The income from Champions League are much larger than for one of the other European competitions, and although Villa probably has to make a big sale for the end of June-the closing point for the accounting period of 2024-25-ZOU a top five finish give them a larger purchasing power on the other side of that deadline.
A place in the Premier Club competition of Europe would also calm the nerves in the team. After the villa helped the quarterfinals of the competition of this season, the players are hungry for more. And without Champions League football, interest in rivals in players such as Morgan Rogers will certainly grow.
However, if Villa falls short, this can only be a temporary absence. Manchester United and Spurs have performed this term terribly in domestic football, but they will still dispute the Europa League final and the winner is eligible for the Champions League. If the 16th and 17th best teams in England can go all the way in the competition this season, why not Villa?
They have a talented team hardened through the battle and a coach who has won the Europa League four times. Although the Champions League Emery requires to choose its strongest team in every match, the lower standard of the Europa League would give him more room to rest and rotate. That would keep important players fresher longer, so that Villa can mount a seasonal attack on a top-four finish.
Ollie Watkins, Youri Tielemans and Rogers have made this term each 52 performances, with
Ezri Konsa at 48 and John McGinn 47. Only after January, when Villa made five signing sessions, including the loan takeovers of Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford, Emery had the team he needed and the form of Villa was excellent since then.
With similar options next season, Villa has to make progress on all fronts. Yet there are problems to solve. Profit and sustainability rules are regular headaches. The calculations are made on a three-year rolling cycle, which means that for the first-the £ 100 million sale of home-grown stars Jack Grealish to Manchester City will not be incorporated into the latest set.
Although Villa has made good more than £ 75 million of this season's Champions League campaign, a second consecutive season at the top table everyone in the account department would make a huge sigh of relief.
Villa has won seven of their last eight in the competition and another six points of games against Spurs and United would give them a fight on a top five finish.
“My goal is to play every year in Europe and next year we will compete in Europe for the third consecutive season,” said Emery.
'Of course there are three different European competitions and each is a route to a trophy.
'We will finish the season with nearly 60 games and this shows that the requirements increase, but I like to play in Europe. It brings prestige for the club, so qualifying again is really fantastic. '