Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has discussed his desire to win a trophy with us, but has ultimately also left the door open to a possible future exit.
After playing a fundamental role in Argentina’s success at the World Cup last year, the 30-year-old has now established himself as one of the top goalkeepers in the world.
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Naturally, as he continues to showcase his quality on the biggest stages, it will increase attention and interest in him, and so there was obvious concern from a Villa perspective over our ability to keep hold of him for the foreseeable future.
Villa are in a strong position in the sense that he is under contract until June 2027 after signing an extension last year, and of course, we want him to stay and build around him as Unai Emery looks to transform us into a club capable of winning trophies and competing at the top end of the Premier League table.
However, whether that will come soon enough for Martinez remains to be seen, as based on his comments below, he is evidently desperate to win something with us, but as we continue to build under Emery, he may want to test himself at the highest level – namely in the Champions League – before we’re capable of offering him that opportunity.
“I’m still hungry, I want to win the Champions League,” he told France Football, as quoted by Ole. “Obviously, I would like to do it with Aston Villa, but it will be difficult because the club is still in its growth phase. I won the most beautiful title there is with the National Team and now I’m aiming for the biggest title at club level.
“I would like to win a title with Aston Villa. But it’s complicated… We were knocked out of the FA Cup in January. You should never lose hope. We’ll see what will happen. I have the feeling that today I have the level to play in the Champions League and try to win it.”
In many ways, nothing that Martinez says above should really come as a surprise. Of course he wants to challenge himself against the very best at club level and the Champions League is a competition that all players want to be involved in and ultimately win.
He’s always been ambitious, and he has regularly spoken glowingly of Villa and how much he loves the club and wants to help us win something important.
The ideal scenario would be that we sign significant reinforcements this summer and really push to win a domestic cup next season while making progress in our attempt to qualify for Europe. That in turn would no doubt help convince the likes of Martinez to stay, and so time will tell if that plays out.
It would be a real blow to lose him if there was significant interest this summer as it would feel as though we’re losing a pillar of the side just as Emery is guiding us in the right direction to where we want to get to.
A lot can change between now and the end of the season, and so we’ll have to wait and see if Martinez is going to be a fundamental figure for us for some time yet or if an opportunity for him comes along and makes it difficult for us to keep hold of him.