The Valencia-born executive spoke candidly during an international break training camp in Murcia, reflecting on a journey that began with three-line match reports for Marca and ended up at the heart of one of Europe's most ambitious clubs.
When Unai Emery called in 2022 and asked him to come to Birmingham, Vidagany was reluctant. He had walked away from football after a difficult exit from Valencia and had no intention of returning.
"I didn't want to go back to football. But the Premier League was like going to the NBA. Four years have passed and it has exceeded all expectations," he told El Pais.
The two men inherited a Villa side sitting seventeenth in October 2022. The club now sits fourth, one point behind Manchester United, having returned to the Champions League for the first time in 41 years. Emery, contracted until 2029, has surpassed 100 victories at the club — a milestone previously reached only by Ron Saunders and Joe Mercer in Villa's history.
The model they are following is no secret. Owner Nasef Sawiris handed Emery a blank sheet of paper to build the new Villa, and from day one the philosophy has been clear.
"That day we decided to preserve football as the centre of everything and not poison it with other situations — and that means protecting your manager."
The template is borrowed from the best.
"Unai and I look closely at the City model under Pep Guardiola because it is a model of absolute success, and we try to replicate it."
Vidagany, who has found both personal happiness and professional fulfilment in Birmingham, is equally clear about what makes the project work.
"I feel privileged to work in the Premier League, at Aston Villa, and to live in a city like Birmingham, where they treat us with great affection and respect."
The boy from Llíria who once wrote match reports about his local basketball team is now one of the most influential football executives in England.