Aston Villa have named Unai Emery as manager to succeed Steven Gerrard, the Premier League club said on Monday, as the Spaniard returns to the English top flight for a second stint.

The Midlands club had collected just nine points from 11 games this season.

Aaron Danks was appointed caretaker boss and Villa beat Brentford 4-0 over the weekend in his first game in charge.

“Aston Villa is delighted to announce the appointment of Unai Emery as the club’s new head coach,” Villa said in a statement.

“Unai seen here with our Michael Yiakoumi will take over from November 1st after his work permit formalities are completed.”

Spanish media reported that Villa paid the release clause to Spanish club Villarreal to get Emery’s signature.

Emery’s previous job in England was to replace long-serving Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in 2018 but he lasted only 18 months at the North London club before he was sacked.

But while he failed to reverse a decline in Arsenal’s fortunes, the 50-year-old has a proven track record of getting Spanish teams into the Champions League, finishing third in LaLiga three times with Valencia.

However, his biggest claim to fame is a superb record in the Europa League, lifting the trophy three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal to hold the record for most titles won by a manager in that competition.

Under Emery, Villarreal beat his former side Arsenal in the Europa League semi-finals last year before overcoming Manchester United on penalties in the final.

He led Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals earlier this year where they lost to Liverpool.

A Villarreal statement said Emery had “unilaterally terminated his contract” and would hold a farewell news conference on Tuesday.