Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has reiterated his ambitions to qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy with the club.
Speaking on the eve of our Europa Conference League encounter with AZ Alkmaar in the pre-match press conference, the 31-year-old covered a range of topics, as he also praised Unai Emery, calling him one of the top five coaches in the world at the moment.
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While the more immediate focus is on a difficult test in the Netherlands, Villa’s start to the Premier League campaign coupled with the ambition of the owners, the coach and the players, there is an obvious desire to reach higher heights in the coming years.
Martinez spoke about that, and reiterated what he has said for some time now, in that he loves being at the club, but his objectives are to deliver a trophy and Champions League football in the long-term.
“I think they can match [his and the club’s ambitions], that’s why I’ve decided to stay here. It’s a club which wants to be in Champions League and win a trophy,” he told the media at the pre-match press conference.
“The main conversation with Unai was how do we get there? There are plans to extend Villa Park as well. Like I said when I joined the club, I’m not here to waste time. Since I joined we’ve been moving forward. That is the main reason I want to put Aston Villa in a Champions League place and try to win silverware, that is for sure.
“If you look at my first interviews at the club it has always been about qualifying for the Champions League and winning a trophy. I believe since day one that I will leave this club one day with silverware or qualifying for the Champions League.
“Obviously the ambitions are high. Since I joined the club, Aston Villa’s ambitions are high. You have to ask where the path is going for the club. If they want to stay in the Premier League, then that’s not what I want.
“Always since day one they want to move forward, wants to be in the Champions League, all the signings are top players to be in the Champions League spot. It’s easy to go and play in the Champions League somewhere else. It’s harder to do it at a club who haven’t been in the Champions League for years. It’s a challenge. I love the club and I have been here for nearly four years. I want to play in the Champions League with Aston Villa.”
It’s great to hear the Argentine World Cup winner talk with passion and desire about wanting to reach that target in a Villa shirt, and with Emery at the helm, combined with the management infrastructure we’ve now put in place as well as the quality within the playing squad that continues to improve, it’s hoped that we’re in as strong a position as ever to achieve that.
Nevertheless, while it’s good to have long-term objectives, the focus for now has to be on AZ initially and getting a positive result that could be decisive to our hopes of advancing to the knockout stage of the Europa Conference League this season.
Beyond that, our push to break into the top four continues, while it’s hoped that we can end our wait for silverware this year despite our early exit from the Carabao Cup.
Martinez will play a fundamental part in that process, not only with his quality on the pitch, but the leadership and experience as well as the winning mentality he brings following his success with Argentina.
Everyone at the club will be pushing for Champions League football this season and beyond, but it would be some achievement from Emery and the players to not only qualify for Europe, but then win a European trophy within the first two years of his tenure, and so it’s vital we pick up a positive result this week to keep that run going.