Unai Emery is open to signing a new deal with Aston Villa that would take him to close to a decade at the club.

Emery is one of the most successful Villa managers of modern times and co-owner Nassef Sawiris wants him to guide the club into an even brighter future.

According to a statement on the Villa social media channels, Emery held talks with Sawiris on Wednesday, with his key lieutenants Damian Vidagany and Roberto Olabe attending.

The post read: ‘Aston Villa held an important working meeting today to plan the club's future and lay the foundations for its long-term sporting and institutional project.

'The meeting brought together Nassef Sawiris, the club's Chairman and Unai Emery alongside President of Football Operations Roberto Olabe and Director of Football Operations Damián Vidagany.

'The discussions focused on jointly planning the club's long-term strategic direction, with positive discussions establishing a clear commitment beyond 2029 for the joint development of the club under the sporting leadership of Unai Emery based on the shared ambitions and common goal to reach excellency and keep growing during the next years.

'The objective is clear: to build an ambitious, competitive Aston Villa capable of taking on the biggest challenges and achievements.'

Emery is already one of the best paid coaches in the top flight, earning close to £15million annually.

The Basque was said to be on a shortlist for the Manchester United job if Michael Carrick is sacked.

Villa recently threatened legal action against television pundit Jamie Carragher, who had told ‘Aston Villa fans’ to ‘shut the f*** up’. Carragher apologised for his choice of language.

READ: Unai Emery would be mad to go to United - his best route to the top is at Villa. They're close to being giants and, with him as boss, they can bridge the gap to the elite: OLIVER HOLT