Aston Villa reportedly plan to keep Emiliano Martinez at the club this summer despite transfer speculation linking him with a move elsewhere.
The 33-year-old has played an integral role in our progress and success over the past six years, and has undoubtedly established himself as a fundamental figure in Unai Emery’s side.
Despite rumours over his future last summer, the Argentine shot-stopper stayed at Villa and went on to help us secure Champions League qualification as well as winning the Europa League.
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In turn, it could be argued that Villa should try to keep the nucleus of the current squad together to keep building on the success that we’ve enjoyed under Emery, albeit conversely, the squad is ageing and a rebuild will be required at some stage to give us a long-term plan.
However, according to Matt Maher of the Express and Star, Villa are said to have no interest in negotiating with Juventus or any other club for Martinez this summer, as the club’s plan is to keep him going into the new season.
Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has consistently reported this summer on Martinez’s future and built up talk over Juventus being interested, but he has now changed his tone it seems as he notes that although Villa are asking for a higher fee than the €6m or €7m being reported, we are happy to keep him and aren’t necessarily trying to push him out in this transfer window.
Although he did make mistakes last season and struggled with injury setbacks at times, there is no doubt that Martinez remains one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and so from a football perspective, he gives us a better immediate chance of enjoying more success.
That said, he is 33 and his wages will be significant at a time when Villa need to be financially prudent in order to avoid further sanctions for breaching financial regulations both domestically and with UEFA, and so the argument in favour of selling Martinez is understandable.
Nevertheless, based on this latest reporting, unless Juve or any other interested party are willing to spend big on Martinez, it looks as though he will be staying with us for another year and hopefully continues to play an influential role in our ongoing pursuit of more trophies and solidifying our position in the top four in the Premier League.
Should a sizeable offer arrive though, perhaps we will see a softening of Villa’s touted stance and a long-term replacement could become more of a priority.