Inside Monchi’s Aston Villa exit: Window chaos, financial frustration, and where it leaves Emery
Monchi’s departure from Aston Villa can be seen as a shock, but not a surprise.
His position as Villa’s sporting director has been a topic of conversation for weeks, with his exit predicted by many close observers since the end of a tumultuous summer transfer window. The pressure that had cranked up in the frenzied final days of the market had failed to settle after it, with Unai Emery’s team collecting three points from their first five Premier League games and scoring just once.
It felt something had to give, and Monchi, who had less than 12 months remaining on his contract, albeit with an option for a further year, was the likeliest exit.
Still, when a small group of staff were told of Monchi’s exit on Monday afternoon, they were startled to learn one of Villa’s most senior figures, and a renowned football executive, had departed.
Players left training earlier in the day and only learned of the news when The Athletic broke the story hours later. Wider staff not directly involved in Monchi’s departments, including senior figures, were equally surprised. They acknowledged that Villa’s recruitment had been poor and tensions were developing, but not quite to the extent of Monchi leaving just over a month into the new season.
The exact framing of that departure depends on who you ask. For some, it was a matter of necessity on the back of the summer’s transfer struggle; others present it as a mutual decision, while there are also personal reasons for Monchi wanting to return to Spain.
Monchi is expected to remain in an advisory capacity within Villa’s ownership group, V Sports, as part of plans to restructure the football department. This indicates the relationship between him and the ownership group remains good.
The fact Villa have moved swiftly for Roberto Olabe, the former Real Sociedad sporting director, who played for Emery’s boyhood club, Real Union, underlines this was not a knee-jerk decision. Olabe was on Villa’s radar before they hired Monchi and has also been considered by Arsenal and Real Madrid.
Monchi was well-liked and respected by colleagues. He was regarded as an affable, strong character who worked well with his immediate department. Both Monchi and his staff expressed sadness that he is leaving, even if they appreciate how arduous the summer window was and how the actual level of authority Monchi had meant it was difficult for him to push the players they had identified.
Senior figures spoke of the Spaniard deserving a farewell, and he is expected to say his goodbyes on Tuesday before completing the legalities around his exit. Players were officially informed on Tuesday morning, just as Olabe was arriving in the opposite direction.
Inescapably, though, Monchi was Villa’s sporting director, tasked with recruitment. “His name is above the door,” as one figure, who has worked with him, put it. It was inevitable he would be judged on the club’s transfer record.
The Athletic has spoken to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their positions, to build a detailed picture of why and how Monchi’s time in the Midlands came to an end.
Uncertainty around Monchi’s future has gathered since transfer deadline day on September 2.
The 57-year-old had not been seen at Villa’s training base as frequently and many sensed Villa were already making plans to restructure their hierarchy, which ultimately resulted in Olabe arriving. Throughout the summer, it was not lost on close observers that Monchi was spending an increasing amount of time at his boyhood club, San Fernando CD, in Spain’s fifth tier, on a mission to save them from the threat of liquidation.
This was particularly noticeable given how close Monchi previously worked alongside Emery and director of football operations, Damian Vidagany. They would have breakfast and lunch together most days and shared connecting offices at the training ground. As Villa’s ‘triangle of power’, they enjoyed huge success, qualifying for the Champions League in the 2023-24 campaign before reaching the competition’s quarter-finals the following year.
Multiple sources joked that whenever you saw Monchi, invariably Vidagany was not far behind — and vice versa. They remain extremely close and effectively acted as gatekeepers to Emery, with staff feeling that if they wanted to speak to the manager, they would have to go through one of them.
Monchi and Vidagany often travelled to London to meet with co-owner Nassef Sawiris when he still resided in the United Kingdom. The pair were responsible for keeping Sawiris and fellow co-owner, Wes Edens, briefed while helping direct them on decisions.
Sawiris is the more involved figure on the football side and is hugely ambitious. He wants to compete regularly in the Champions League and has long championed Emery’s project, allowing him to have full autonomy and appoint more than a dozen Spanish staff.
Villa’s poor start to the season and transfer window would, therefore, not have gone unnoticed, especially when he and fellow co-owners are footing the costs for UEFA fines incurred for breaching the European governing body’s financial regulations.
As part of UEFA’s Squad Cost Rules (SCR), Villa had to lower their wage-to-revenue ratio to 70 per cent or lower in the summer, down from the mid-80s at the end of last season. They were also mindful of UEFA’s Football Earnings Rule (FER), which states clubs can lose no more than €60m (£51.6m; $70.1m) over that period. The Athletic projects that Villa are still operating above the 70 per cent SCR limit and will be at risk of incurring a fine this season.
Those financial restrictions contributed to the challenging summer transfer window, which saw Villa miss out on a host of first-choice targets. Senior figures such as Vidagany and Monchi were constantly firefighting and also had to placate Emery’s desires to improve the squad.
Wider staff, though, admit the summer window had a chaotic nature, exemplified by the Emiliano Martinez saga, where he ended up waiting at the training ground on the final day in a desperate bid to force a move to Manchester United.
The Athletic can reveal that, earlier in the window, Villa anticipated Martinez had a move lined up and were advancing on talks to sign Brentford’s Mark Flekken as the Argentina international’s replacement.
When Martinez failed to secure that move, Villa ran out of time, with Flekken moving to Bayer Leverkusen instead. This was just one example of Villa’s strategy being impeded and having to work on contingencies.
Villa’s transfer strategy was likened to a “jigsaw” by sources, with Emery being able to shift rapidly between targets if he believes he can adjust an existing player’s role so they can fill that position. The club have regularly pursued multiple options when attempting to secure a priority position, with Emery deciding which one, if any, should be chosen.
This is not unique to Villa, but transfer strategy can feel opaque to those not in Emery’s inner circle.
The mood at the training ground was tense during the final week of the window. Villa knew they had to strengthen, but did not know how it would all unfold. Very few outside Emery’s immediate, small circle were aware of progress on targets.
The anticipated exodus did not take place, with Jacob Ramsey being the most notable sale. But this was still significant: Ramsey, a local boy, was very popular in the dressing room and his exit dented the atmosphere, even if his sale was described as a “needs must” by staff.
That uncertainty had implications on the pitch. Emery’s team looked passive in their opening Premier League matches, with multiple sources suggesting they were suffering a crisis of confidence.
There was also a sense of stagnation around the squad, a point underlined by Emery’s strongest team still largely made up of players signed by his predecessors. Nine of the 11 that started the 1-1 draw against Sunderland predate Emery’s arrival in October 2022.
Players told close friends and family that they desperately needed a boost through impactful, high-quality signings. Emery shared that sentiment. Other staff sensed the summer was an opportune time to enter a new era, with a greater turnover in players freshening the environment.
It all led to more pressure and focus on Monchi, not least because Villa’s recruitment record since his arrival in the summer of 2023 — at the behest of Emery — had been mixed.
Villa have signed 28 senior players since Emery’s arrival. PSR concerns have influenced some of those acquisitions, particularly those involving separate cross-player transactions with other clubs, but their impact has not been as great as expected and Villa have been left with an ageing squad. As one source close to a player put it to The Athletic, “They have spent all this money and have nothing to show for it.”
Ultimately, however, it is Emery who has the definitive say on recruitment at Villa, with Monchi’s role being to facilitate him. He and some of his staff would present cases to Emery, who would either approve or reject them. Vidagany’s job is to help with negotiations.
The power base at Villa is different from that at Sevilla, when Emery and Monchi won three Europa Leagues in as many seasons. Authority was more evenly split there. Monchi spoke this time last year of his four key objectives: “First, to find a solution for the PSR (the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules). Second, to have a younger squad. Three, to have a deeper squad. And the fourth is to be aligned with what Unai wants.”
In the summer, Villa identified more than 60 players, with each needing to prove themselves to the manager. The players who did sign were not necessarily first choices: for example, Emery had pushed for West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta ahead of the eventual deadline day signing, Harvey Elliott, who Villa knew were available in the months before.
Emery’s expectations are rightly high, with the sole demand being to win. Consequently, investing in young players with potential but who are not the finished product can be tricky. This is especially true with the current climate of Villa fighting with financial sanctions.
“Monchi would tell you openly that the best manager he’s had at Sevilla was Unai,” a close contact of the sporting director said three months ago. “Because he’s the manager who would get the highest performance out of players and that allowed him to sell at peak prices. He (Monchi) was more in charge at Sevilla, but now his role is to assist and provide Emery with options.”
Monchi, too, grew increasingly frustrated at squad turnover not moving as swiftly as he would have liked.
Monchi’s departure raises more fundamental questions over how Villa are structured and whether his replacement, almost certainly Olabe, should be as closely aligned to Emery.
As The Athletic reported in early June, Villa’s football department has always been admired in comparable circles due to its clear hierarchy. Everyone is aware that all staff on the footballing side work for Emery. Until this summer, they had operated effectively.
One change Monchi had implemented was asking department staff to focus on specific regions. Under the previous regime, it had been more fluid. This summer, Villa reshaped the layout at the training ground, with the intention of the data insights department moving into the office next to Monchi. This was designed to encourage more effective collaboration.
A close circle of confidantes has the ear of Emery, including Alberto Benito, a chief scout and someone who Emery worked with at Almeria, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. His experienced voice carries weight.
Emery is Villa’s best manager in the modern era and few close observers will bet against him turning around on-pitch fortunes and the present flat mood encompassing the club.
But with Villa having grown stagnant, in part owing to recent additions failing to make an impact, change was deemed to be necessary.
