After Aston Villa secured a place in Europe next season, Emiliano Martinez delighted fans with his post-match speech after our win over Brighton on Sunday.
The 30-year-old continued to play a fundamental role in our progression this past season, featuring 37 times across all competitions while conceding just 39 goals and keeping 13 clean sheets.
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However, after his World Cup triumph with Argentina last year and with our struggles in mind in the early part of the campaign, question marks were raised over his future at the club as the expectation was that there would be plenty of interest in him in January, and particularly this summer.
Fortunately, the appointment of Unai Emery has proven to be a hugely positive decision, as the Spaniard has transformed us on the pitch and led us to a Europa Conference League qualification spot on the final weekend of the campaign.
With Villa now preparing for a return to Europe next season, it’s another key factor in both convincing our top players to stay and to attract a higher calibre of transfer targets to the club. Combined with the ambition and proof of what Emery is capable of achieving with us too, it’s an exciting time to be connected to Villa as the future certainly looks bright.
Ultimately, actions will speak louder than words in terms of whether or not Martinez does stay this summer, but the Argentine international has given no indication for us to think otherwise as he once again reaffirmed his commitment and desire to lead us to the Champions League in his post-game speech on Sunday.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said on the pitch after the game, as per the video below. “Where we were at the start of the season to where we are now, we should be grateful to qualify for Europe for the first time in 13 years.
“He (Unai Emery) just told us to play our game and that it was all about us not Brighton. We played an outstanding game from the first minute and I’m very proud to be wearing this shirt today.
“We wanted it more than them – that’s the reality. We wanted to be in Europe and this club deserves to be in Europe. So we’re going to go for the Champions League soon. Let’s go to Europe, babyyyy!”
This sentiment echoes what Martinez has said time and time again about Villa, as he has never been shy about expressing his love for the club and how much it means to him having given him the opportunity and platform to be as successful as he has been.
While the Europa Conference League isn’t where he nor the club would ideally like to be in terms of having greater ambitions to break into the Champions League at some stage, it does represent European football and another big chance of winning a major trophy.
In turn, coupled with the likelihood that we will recruit well this summer and bring in real quality to significantly improve the squad, it’s certainly hoped at least that Martinez isn’t considering anything but starting the new campaign with us, and that he will not stop until we’ve achieved our objectives of winning a trophy and getting into the Champions League.
Naturally, it will still take a lot more work both on and off the pitch to ensure we’re competitive at that level, but after the run we went on under Emery to finish seventh, just one point shy of a Europa League spot and 10 off a top-four finish, we’ll hope to make up that ground next season in Emery’s first full year at the helm and with Martinez leading our charge from the back.
Emi Martínez: "It's a great feeling." 😁 pic.twitter.com/pIq4eTXO9m
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 29, 2023