Aston Villa have reportedly withdrawn their threat of legal action against Jamie Carragher over comments he made about the club, its supporters and manager Unai Emery.

The row centres on remarks the former Liverpool defender delivered on the Stick to Football podcast last week, where the prospect of Emery replacing Michael Carrick at Old Trafford was under discussion.

Carragher had suggested Emery should consider taking the Manchester United job, arguing that “Aston Villa will never be Man United” in the context of football’s hierarchy, and told Villa fans to “shut the f*** up” if they took issue with that statement.

Villa issued their response on Friday evening, posting a statement on X that was signed by chairman Nassef Sawiris.

“Aston Villa will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults about the club and its fans,” the statement said.

“Aston Villa will not allow anyone to stop our ascension in English and European football. Nassef Sawiris, Chairman.”

Carragher went on to apologise for his comments on Saturday ahead of Villa’s clash with Fulham, posting on X: “I’d like to apologise to Aston Villa, the owners and their fans. My language this week was clumsy and wrong.

“I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it’s not come across that way, so apologies. Good luck today UTV [Up The Villa]!”

And while Villa never initiated legal action against Carragher, BBC Sport claim that they have now dropped any threat to do so following his apology.

The Independent has contacted Aston Villa for comment.

Emery has overseen a resurgence at Villa since arriving in 2022, lifting them from regular relegation scrappers to Champions League qualification for the first time in over 40 years, before last season guiding them to the Europa League title.

Carragher nevertheless claimed that Emery would jump ship from Villa Park if the opportunity arose to manager a “giant” club again, with the Spaniard previously managing Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.

"There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not," said Carragher.

"So Real Madrid will take Manchester United's best player, they did it with [Cristiano] Ronaldo. And there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they'll take their players or manager.

"Aston Villa will never be Manchester United."