Newly-appointed Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has chosen Rafa Benitez's former right-hand man at Liverpool to become his assistant.
Emery is back in the Premier League after a three-year absence and will look to improve on his experience at Arsenal having gained further experience in La Liga at Villarreal. The 50-year-old won the Europa League during his first season at the helm of the Spanish side and reached the semi-finals of last year's Champions League, losing to Liverpool over two legs.
Putting together his backroom team, after Villa axed all of Steven Gerrard's staff, Emery has turned to a familiar face for Reds supporters as he looks to build a base for success at the West Midlands club.
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Pako Ayestaran, who worked under Benitez at Anfield between 2004 and 2007, has taken the opportunity to return to the Premier League as Villa's assistant head coach. Since working with the Reds over that three-year period, Ayestaran also served as Gary Neville's assistant at Valencia before taking on his own manager roles in recent years at Las Palmas, Pachuca and Tondela.
Ayesteran developed a close working relationship with Benitez after accompanying him at Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia and then Liverpool, though went their separate ways in 2007 following a series of disputes. Benitez accused his assistant of “a betrayal” by talking to other clubs behind his back but Ayestaran denied this claim in 2015.
“That’s not true. I never looked at any jobs behind his back,” Ayestaran told the ECHO seven years ago. "It’s true that I had offers from Spain but Rafa knew about them. I’ve not seen Rafa since. I’ve not been lucky.
“I would have loved to continue at the club for more years but the fact is I had stopped enjoying my work on a daily basis. I just felt Rafa and I were going in different directions in the way of wanting to do things. In terms of the training and the competitions, we were getting away from our principles. If you are not enjoying it then you are not a happy bunny, as you say in English. When that happens it’s time to move on."
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