Unai Emery reveals Aston Villa's 'biggest challenge' and Real Union dream

"Always my idea is to try today to be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today."

It's the principle Unai Emery lives by, which he believes stems from his family roots.

Emery grew up in Hondarribia in the Basque Country and began his playing career at Real Sociedad in their youth team. He later joined Toledo, Racing Ferrol and Leganes before retiring at Lorca Deportiva in 2004, but despite his short career as a player, the Spaniard has devoted his life to the game.

His father Juan and grandfather Antonio both played as goalkeepers in their careers for Real Union Club, the third-tier Spanish club located just three miles from where Unai grew up.

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The Basque region has a rich football heritage which has been exported across the globe as 20 per cent of the managers who started last season in the Premier League hailed from that region. What is even more remarkable is that Gipuzkoa, the smallest Spanish province located in the Basque Country, is the home of all three Premier League managers;, Emery, Arteta and Andoni Iraola.

"Iraola has played as a footballer at the highest level, Arteta has played as a footballer at the highest level, Lopetegui has also played as a footballer at the highest level, Xabi Alonso has played as a footballer at the highest level… I can speak from a more modest background as a footballer," Emery told Diario Vasco.

"When I was a 25-year-old player in Toledo I earned my coaching badges because I wanted to continue, I wanted to make my career in football. I have very defined characteristics as my personality. One comes from my father, who was very responsible. He was always focused on work, responsibility, the need to support the family.

"And the second is my mother, who has been a fighter with a lot of character. So, as a coach I believe that they have brought together what I am and what I feel about football. I practically don't know Xabi Alonso, but his father, Perico Alonso, was my coach and from a distance I see things in Xabi that remind me of his father. You can see that they breathe football. I also see Arteta and say it's football."

Emery bought a controlling stake in Real Union two-and-a-half years ago and Villa are now helping the La Liga founding club's progression after they became the latest to fall under V Sports' global network of clubs late last year. Vissel Kobe, ZED FC and Vitoria Sport Clube from Japan, Egypt and Portugal respectively are also connected to Villa.

Since their relegation from the second tier in the 2009/10 season, Real Union has remained in the third division of Spanish football. Despite falling on hard times in recent years, but have renewed hope under the guidance of the Emery family and V Sports.

"The key to the agreement was that Aston Villa offered us greater financial support than Real," Emery explained. "They help us to establish a relationship of use of certain footballers in this agreement, to try to help consolidate infrastructures that we still have very low.

"There will be improvements in training fields, in the Gal stadium itself and greater work capacities. Then also, financially, also having a stake in Real Union. I want the people of the region who do not play for Real Sociedad to have a place in Real Union and not to go to another club.

"With Real Union I have a certain sense of responsibility with my father, responsibility for what Real Union has been with my grandfather, who was goalkeeper of the team. I have that responsibility towards my land.

"Logically I am the link, but also a coach abroad and I focus 99 per cent on that. Real Union is going to do a pre-season there, when we go to the United States. It is a way of being close at times, and giving it meaning beyond meeting objectives gradually over time, being able to give it meaning in the short-term.

"Aston Villa is also capable of giving you support because they recognise your work there and also recognise your involvement with their club to even go further and that Real Union, a club of the Emery family, is also linked to it. I take all of this as a positive charge that I have in me, but that I assume with great responsibility.

"So, the Aston Villa process for me right now is a process where I want to give the most, I want to enjoy the most, I want to use all my learning, all my experiences, to try to return that trust to the club's owners and all the fans of Aston Villa. Then, in addition, I want to make sure my career as a coach and my process as a family member of Real Union is as protected as possible.

Asked about next season's objectives for Villa and Real Union, Emery said: "For Aston Villa, let's see if we are able to maintain the Champions League. There are teams that have been entering and leaving. My biggest challenge next season is to be competitive in the Champions League, not to participate one year as something anecdotal.

"With Real Union, what we have to do is recover feeling, that feeling in Irun, in the Bidasoa region, is present in Real Union, as it was before. And recovering that feeling also means that young people who want to play soccer from an early age can do so at Real Union.

"We want to create a football family in Gipuzkoa, in addition to Real Sociedad, in addition to Eibar. Logically, if you ask me what my dream is, it would be for Real Union to be in the first division. But it's a waking dream. Just as Eibar has achieved, I want or try to ensure that Real Union also has its place, its space."

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