Former Barcelona boss Quique Setien to replace Unai Emery at Villarreal?

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 25 October 2022

Villarreal are reportedly hoping to appoint former Barcelona boss Quique Setien as the replacement for Unai Emery, who has agreed to join Aston Villa.

Villarreal are reportedly hoping to appoint former Barcelona boss Quique Setien as their next head coach.

On Monday evening, it was announced that Unai Emery was ending his near two-and-a-half-year reign at the Yellow Submarine to move to Aston Villa.

The Premier League giants are said to have met a release clause in the region of £5.2m, a fee which may have been used to secure the services of Emery's replacement.

However, according to Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Villarreal hierarchy have set their sights on Setien.

The report claims that president Fernando Roig Alfonso has already made contact with the 64-year-old to tempt him back to the dugout after a two-year absence.

Barcelona manager Quique Setien pictured in January 2020 © Reuters

Discussions are said to have progressed rapidly with Setien ready to take on his new challenge in the top tier of Spanish football.

The veteran's last role did not go as planned as he lasted just over seven months in charge of Barcelona from January through to August in 2020.

Although Setien recorded 16 wins in 25 matches, he was removed from his position on the back of Barcelona suffering a famous 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Despite that high-profile setback, Barcelona only finished five points adrift of Real Madrid in La Liga in a coronavirus-hit campaign, his team collecting 24 points from the final 11 games after the resumption of action behind closed doors.

Villarreal's Francis Coquelin celebrates scoring their fourth goal with teammates on September 8, 2022 © Reuters

Before his time at Barcelona, Setien had been at Real Betis, recording 39 wins and 33 defeats from 94 matches during a time when he guided Los Verdiblancos to the Europa League.

Should Setien be confirmed as the next head coach of Villarreal, he will be joining a club that currently occupies seventh position in the La Liga standings.

While Villarreal have prevailed in two of their last three fixtures, they still sit four points adrift of fourth-placed Real Sociedad.

Villarreal have already secured their progress through to the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League after recording four successive wins in the group stages.