Aston Villa turn to Unai Emery after Ruben Amorim shuns potential switch

Unai Emery has emerged as Aston Villa's number one target to become their new manager, sources have confirmed to 90min.

Villa axed Steven Gerrard last Thursday after a disappointing run of results and after being shunned by Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel, they targeted Sporting CP's highly-rated boss Ruben Amorim.

VIlla opened talks with intermediaries and Amorim's representatives late last week, and their initial conversations suggested that he was open to agreeing a deal.

However, further talks have not been as positive and now Villa are moving on, knowing they need to find the right candidate to succeed Gerrard

90min confirmed last week that Villarreal boss Emery was also a 'person of interest' to Villa, with a short and relatively unsuccessful spell in charge of Arsenal not indicative of what's been a hugely successful career in management to date.

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Indeed, the 50-year-old has an outstanding CV, lifting the Europa League on four separate occasions - three times with Sevilla and once with current employers Villarreal - and he also won six trophies during his time with Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

Emery previously turned the chance to take over at Newcastle United, kick-starting their new era, but Villa hope that he can be persuaded to return to England.

90min has been told that Villa have no issue in paying the £6m release clause in his Villarreal contract and that terms have been agreed in principle with Emery's agents - the Spaniard must now decide whether or not he's prepared to take the job and walk away from Villarreal.