Aston Villa officially confirmed the appointment of Monchi as our new President of Football Operations on Friday, a highly-anticipated move as part of our management restructuring this summer.
With Chris Heck arriving last month as President of Business Operations and following the departure of Christian Purslow as CEO and Director, Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have put their vision into place in recent weeks, in terms of how they want the club to operate on and off the pitch moving forward.
READ MORE: What Monchi said after Villa confirm crucial appointment
While it’s hoped that Heck is able to oversee growth and profitability with business and commercial matters, the real focus is now on Monchi’s influence in the sporting aspect, and given his reputation and success at Sevilla, the 54-year-old’s arrival is potentially a big moment for Villa.
Sevilla won the Europa League seven times during Monchi’s time as sporting director, as well as two Copa del Reys and the European Super Cup, as he played a pivotal role in the building, and re-building, of their respective squads to continue to be competitive both at home and in Europe.
Three of those Europa League trophies were won with Unai Emery in charge, and now as the pair look forward to being reunited and trying to replicate that success at Villa, this feels like a really big move from the club and one that they believe will move us forward and closer to becoming a serious and sustained threat in the coming years.
While Monchi’s time at Roma is widely used as a warning that there is no guarantee this reshuffle will lead to success, these are now completely different circumstances and a different environment he finds himself in.
He’ll work with different parameters at Villa with the owners willing to invest and strengthen the squad where necessary, we have the pull of offering a chance to compete at the top end of the Premier League table and of course, if we successfully navigate our path through the playoff round in August, we can also offer European football with the Europa Conference League.
Monchi’s eye for talent, savvy business mind, experience, pedigree and track record all suggest that Villa are mostly going to make smart decisions moving forward that continuously move us in the right direction, and naturally, now that he’s back alongside Emery, the pair will have a vision and a belief that they can take this club where we all want it to be.
The graphic below provides some fascinating insight into the mind of Monchi and how he operates, and admittedly, as noted above, this is different role, club and challenge compared to his previous, but this appointment will hopefully enable us to take the next step forward in our ongoing development.
Speaking to Marca in 2017, Monchi named this XI as his best side of signings: Andres Palop, Dani Alves, Javi Navarro, Julien Escude, Adriano, Christian Poulsen, Renato, Ivan Rakitic, Ever Banega, Luis Fabiano, Frederic Kanoute.
That’s some team given what they not only did for Sevilla but what they achieved before or after being at the club, and given the list of players that didn’t make it, it shows what a polished and proven operator the Spaniard is.
Importantly now, Emery has the support he wanted. He has someone who he can share his ideology with and get what he feels he needs in return to make it a reality. It solidifies his position of power at the club, and based on our progression and improvement under his stewardship last season, if we can now build on that and continue to become increasingly competitive, this is a long-term plan that hopefully turns us into a serious, and consistent, contender.
🗣 Insight into Monchi's mind from an interview in 2021.
Different role, club & challenge, but still fascinating to understand his way of working a little better. Hopefully exciting times ahead. UTV. 🇪🇸🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/4Ci17fsun4
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) June 16, 2023