Unai Emery Targets Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Right-Back Position
Unai Emery has drawn a red circle around one position this summer: right-back.
Aston Villa’s head coach wants sharper edges to a squad now expected to live with the demands of Champions League football, a Europa League title and a fourth-place Premier League finish having raised the bar. Matty Cash remains trusted, but not untouchable. Emery wants serious competition, not cover.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has moved to the top of that list.
Emery’s defensive puzzle
Villa’s recruitment team, according to reports from The Athletic, view Wan-Bissaka as an ideal fit for Emery’s demanding backline. At 28, the defender brings something Villa’s coach values above almost everything else in that role: elite one‑on‑one defending and the ability to lock down a flank in big games.
Emery’s full-backs are asked to adapt constantly – sometimes tucking inside, sometimes bombing on, sometimes simply shutting the game down. Wan-Bissaka’s reputation as one of Europe’s best pure defenders in wide areas during his Manchester United days has not gone unnoticed in Birmingham.
The chase has gathered pace after other plans fell away. A move for Flamengo’s Emerson Royal, the former Tottenham defender, never got off the ground. With that route blocked, Villa have pivoted decisively toward Wan-Bissaka as they try to deepen a squad built to handle midweek European nights and the grind of another top-four push.
West Ham’s relegation reality
West Ham United’s fall into the Championship has changed the landscape.
Relegation for the first time since the 2011-12 season has forced the east London club into some hard choices. Wan-Bissaka, who made 27 appearances in all competitions last season and chipped in with three assists, is among those the Hammers are understood to be willing to let go for the right price.
On paper, his contract screams “not for sale”. He signed a seven-year deal through to 2031 when he arrived from Manchester United in a £15 million move. In practice, the picture is more complicated.
His minutes faded when it mattered most. Wan-Bissaka started only two of West Ham’s final seven league games, with Kyle Walker-Peters increasingly preferred. For a player in his prime years, that kind of run on the bench sharpens the appeal of a reset at a Champions League club.
Any deal will not be cheap. West Ham’s valuation reflects both the length of his contract and his pedigree at the top level. For Wan-Bissaka, though, it would mark a dramatic swing in fortunes: from a relegated side and a rotational role to a project built around regular European football.
International form and Old Trafford pedigree
While West Ham faltered, Wan-Bissaka’s stock on the international stage held firm.
He started all four of DR Congo’s matches at this summer’s World Cup, delivering the kind of composed, front-foot defending that attracts scouts. Those performances have helped remind clubs of the player who once routinely shut down some of the Premier League’s most dangerous wingers.
Before his London spell, Wan-Bissaka carved out a reputation at Old Trafford as one of Europe’s most reliable one-on-one defenders. Across five seasons with Manchester United he amassed 190 appearances and played key roles in trophy-winning campaigns, lifting the EFL Cup in 2022-23 and the FA Cup in 2023-24.
That blend of experience – deep runs in domestic cups, pressure nights at United, a leading role for his country – is exactly the profile Emery has been pushing for as Villa step into a new tier of expectation.
Now the question is simple: can Villa turn admiration into agreement, and will Wan-Bissaka swap a Championship rebuild for a Champions League charge?
