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What Unai Emery said on emotional Villa duo amid exit speculation

Sumeet Paul
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery refused to give anything away amid exit speculation over Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey.

The Villa duo were emotional after our 2-0 win over Tottenham at Villa Park on Friday night, with Bailey seen hunched over taking a moment at the end of the game away from his teammates.

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Meanwhile, Martinez was in tears as he approached the Holte End before making his way down the tunnel, and although there is of course no way of confirming that the pair already know that they’ll be leaving the club this summer and have ultimately played their last home game for us, it certainly looked as though it is a possibility.

Emery wasn’t expected to give much away at this stage, largely down to the fact that no deals are perhaps confirmed as of yet, but we’ve also got one more crunch Premier League encounter remaining as we continue to pursue a Champions League qualification spot.

With our full focus set to switch to Manchester United at Old Trafford next weekend, the Villa boss can ill-afford to be distracted from the main task at hand, and so he declined to confirm one way or another what Martinez and Bailey’s respective reactions at full-time might have meant in relation to their futures at the club when asked about the situation.

“We are focused on the matches we are playing,” Emery said in response to a question on the pair, as per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell. “Of course it’s the last match here. But I don’t know. We will see about the team and the players but they are responding on the field.

“They are so, so focused on how we are preparing and playing each match. Of course Leon Bailey is playing now less because other players are responding and performing very well. We are going to play in Manchester for the last three points.

“And for us it will be important to prepare and to focus everybody. After then, of course we will see about everything in how we are going to try and get better for the next season.”

As per Fabrizio Romano, Martinez has received approaches from Saudi Arabian clubs, and so that might go some way to explaining his emotional reaction after the full-time whistle. That said, he also notes that it’s merely a possibility at this stage that he leaves Villa, and so it remains to be seen if a departure materialises this summer.

The same applies to Bailey, albeit his limited role and struggle for form this season probably indicates more strongly that he could move on this summer, but there are number of big decisions for the club to make as we not only try to improve and increase the competitiveness of Emery’s squad, but also consider financial implications in relation to PSR as we must continue to balance our books and avoid sanctions.

There is still plenty of time for things to change, but at this moment, both Martinez and Bailey have undoubtedly dropped major hints that they feel as though their time at Villa may be coming to an end.

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