Aston Villa left-back Alex Moreno has spoken glowingly of Unai Emery’s methods while revealing who has been a big help for him in settling at the club.
As per BBC Sport, Villa completed a £13.2m deal to sign the 29-year-old from Real Betis in January, as he became Emery’s first signing at the club and an important addition.
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He’s faced a battle with Lucas Digne to win the starting spot at left-back since he arrived, but he has made seven appearances thus far and has mostly made a positive impression in terms of his influence on our play.
Naturally, he can still improve and is continuing to adapt to Emery’s demands, but Moreno was very complimentary of his new boss and has been left surprised by the level of detail and analysis that he puts into preparing his side.
“He’s won what he’s won for a reason,” Moreno told Radio Marca, as quoted by BirminghamLive. “I was very surprised by how he analyses the matches, what he wants from each player, from the team. He gives you a lot of information but when you arrive at a new club that information helps you a lot, that’s very important.”
Meanwhile, not only has Moreno had to adapt to life with a new coach, squad and football environment, he has had to settle into a new way of living away from the club along with his family.
It’s a difficult process for any player who moves abroad, but the Spaniard has spoken about how important it has been having the likes of Emiliano Martinez in particular around to help him acclimatise and settle, and it certainly sounds as though that particular process has been made a lot easier.
“He [Martinez] is a very good person,” he added. “We are all a bit in the same group in the locker room. Emi, since I arrived he has always given me advice, he knows that it is always difficult when a new arrival arrives.
“Couples get together too between them to make adaptation easier, I’m very happy on that side because it also helps.
“The little that I have been able to know is very good, football is lived differently. It’s another type of life, another place to meet, to experience football different from Seville. I’m liking it a lot. I want to keep learning more about Birmingham.”
Given his defensive qualities and the attacking threat that he adds to the side, it’s hoped Moreno is able to establish himself as a regular starter moving forward and gets a run of games to cement his place in the Villa XI.
It won’t be easy as Digne offers serious competition and has quality of his own, but the Spaniard was signed for a reason by Emery, and it’s hoped we get to see more of that on a more consistent basis in the coming months and years.
Further, with the group of Spanish-speaking players in the squad growing and potentially increasing further this summer, it will hopefully form the core of the side moving forward that leads us to success.
