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The sharpest proof of Unai Emery’s brilliance is not the European trophy now sitting in Aston Villa’s cabinet, but the striking absence of anxiety around Villa Park even as the Villans appear to be having the core of their team pulled apart.

If almost any other club, under almost any other manager, had experienced the kind of rapid and sweeping upheaval seen at Villa Park in one summer, they would unquestionably be deep in ‘Fear For Them’ territory.

Naturally, the Premier League’s second longest-serving manager has earned that faith. In the modern game, very few coaches have reshaped a club in the way Emery has transformed Villa.

When he arrived in October 2022, Villa were in a relegation fight, sitting one place above the bottom three and level on points with the two teams beneath them. In the three-and-a-half seasons since taking over from Steven Gerrard, Emery has led Villa into the Champions League twice and delivered Europa League glory.

This is astonishing…

It is no surprise, then, that Villa have effectively handed Emery the keys to the castle. He now holds complete authority, having moulded both the dressing room and the club’s executive structure according to his own preferences.

That must explain why Villa supporters remain calm — even excited and full of expectation — despite the Europa League-winning side being broken up piece by piece.

Six of the starters in Istanbul are at different points on the path away from Villa Park. With Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins all expected to be gone by the start of September, Villa are on course to lose their spine and, really, Villa fans have no right to be this hopeful.

Are they still intoxicated by Europa success? Can Emery’s magic truly extend to keeping Villa at their recent level through a season shaped by so much change?

The overhaul has not been limited to the pitch either; Emery’s backroom set-up has also been heavily altered.

His long-serving assistant Pako Ayestaran and set-piece coach Austin MacPhee have both departed, with Villa’s individual development coach, a technical assistant and three medical staff members also leaving.

Considering the scale of the transition pushed through in a single summer, some of it not by choice, this may be the one moment Emery might have preferred not to be controlling every lever. Yet from the manager’s perspective, a turbulent summer is a worthwhile trade-off for near-authoritarian control.

And Villa supporters would much rather see Emery personally selecting replacements for those leaving than have anonymous executives forcing signings on him.

Their recruitment so far has done plenty to ease whatever concerns may still be lingering in the Holte End. Joao Gomes and Johan Manzambi are eye-catching arrivals, while Zion Suzuki looks like a highly capable and well-timed successor to Martinez.

Villa will probably line up with two new full-backs in Matteo Ruggeri and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and, although Alejandro Garnacho is something of a gamble, Emery’s aura may offer the winger his best opportunity to revive his career.

Even so, there is still a great deal left to do. So much so that, once again, if another club were still this far from completing business so close to the transfer deadline, panic would almost certainly have taken hold.

If Watkins and Konsa do leave, Villa will then require a centre-back, a centre-forward and midfielders of two, perhaps even three, different profiles.

And even if they manage to complete every task on their recruitment checklist while also lowering their squad-cost ratio, asking an almost entirely rebuilt team to come together quickly enough to withstand the level of scrutiny the Premier League would inevitably bring still feels like a huge challenge, even for Emery.

Perhaps we will also see a different Villa in style as well as personnel, particularly in the opening phase of the season. Most managers would choose a more pragmatic route while the disorder settles down.

But Emery is more secure than most managers — perhaps more secure than any of them. He has room to fail, certainly in the early stages of what is a Villa revolution rather than an evolution, yet he appears determined to keep driving forward as though his entire structure has not just been ripped apart.

“I feel like the club is in a new era, with this possibility to fight for trophies,” Emery said in July. “Winning the Champions League is something I dream of. I see teams that have come close to a level similar to ours over the years. Three years ago, Borussia Dortmund reached the final. Villarreal reached the semis against Liverpool and came close to reaching the final.

“So, at Aston Villa, we’ll also try to be competitive, a team that is renowned, that’s closer to winning than losing, and that’s back in contention or capable of competing with the best teams to win titles.”

From almost anyone else, those words might be dismissed as the usual noise from a manager trying hard to project ambition and positivity.

But this wild, brilliant b*stard believes it — and we believe him. That is what makes Villa the most fascinating team at the start of a season filled with unknowns, and one that is very easy to get behind.