Jadon Sancho is completing his most current loan at Aston Villa, and Unai Emery has suggested the Manchester United man could remain in the Midlands
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery admits Jadon Sancho’s long-term future could be at the club despite limited gametime in the Midlands this season.
The England international – on loan from Manchester United – has struggled to find his best form since moving back to the Premier League from Borussia Dortmund.
So far, he has been unable to find a place at the Red Devils, who he joined in 2021 for £73million. In the five years since that mega-money deal, he has spent three seasons out on loan, one back in Dortmund, another at Chelsea, and in 2025-26, at Villa.
The 25-year-old has made 14 Premier League appearances for the Villans this term, and 23 in all competitions.
But fans at Villa Park have still not been convinced by the winger, although his manager seemingly disagrees.
Ahead of the home match against Brighton on Wednesday evening, Emery opened up on Sancho’s long-term future at the Villans, suggesting that he could become an integral part of the squad.
He said: “He’s a fantastic player. Hopefully he can help us increase his qualities in our structure like he is doing.
“Of course, he will need another contract. Will it be here? It could be because if he is playing his best football we will want him. But if he’s playing his better football then maybe another team will want him.
“This is football. Each match, the next match, this month, everything is very important for every player.”
Villa ‘enjoying the process’
After a shaky start to the campaign, Villa have completely transformed their season, and were touted as potential title challengers to Arsenal and Manchester City in recent months.
Their form has dipped slightly since then, but they remain in third place, nine points behind the Gunners and just three off Pep Guardiola’s City side.
While realistic expectations have started to settle among the Villa faithful, Emery claims his squad are simply enjoying the process of competing at the highest level.
He added: “We are not thinking about the end of the season. We are thinking about now. We cannot speak about how we were in September. We are enjoying the process, we are competing.
“We are feeling comfortable with how we are doing our season. Up and down sometimes, but more up than down.
“Now we’ve had two defeats at home and can understand how something like this can happen.
“Tomorrow we have a new challenge, at home at Villa Park [against Brighton], to try to get our full energy, our full wishes and our focus to prepare the game and compete against a very good team.
“And to compete at Villa Park with our supporters, which is always very special for us to play there.”
Villa praise warranted
The club have rightfully earned praise for their competitiveness across both England’s top flight and Europe in the last few seasons.
Much has been made of their financial constraints, with Profit and Sustainability regulations preventing them from competing with the ‘big 6’ for huge transfers, but Villa continue to prove that they can perform against any side on the continent, and their eyes are firmly set on the game’s top prizes.
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