Speaking recently on The Villa View podcast, Dan Bardell discussed Aston Villa’s potential interest in signing Arsenal goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez.
Moving to Arsenal from Club Atletico Independiente in what was a £1.35 million deal back in 2010, Martinez has gone on to make just 38 appearances for the Gunners, over which he has conceded 41 goals and kept 16 clean sheets.
Nine of these appearances came during last season’s Premier League campaign, during which the ‘keeper highly impressed for Arsenal, conceding just nine goals and keeping three clean sheets, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.02.
In addition to this fine league form, the 28-year-old also featured in every round of the club’s FA Cup run, conceding just three goals and keeping three clean sheets, helping his side to lift the famous English trophy.
As a result of these impressive performances, there have been rumours of interest in the Argentine shot-stopper this summer, with Villa even said to have made a £10 million offer to Arsenal, although, it is said that Mikel Arteta would require a figure of closer to £20 million to let the ‘keeper leave the club.
The club’s interest in the £7.2 million-rated Martinez was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of The Villa View podcast, with Dan Bardell offering an update on the situation surrounding Villa’s reported interest in the ‘keeper.
He said: “It’s clear that Villa want a goalkeeper, and it’s clear that Martinez is someone that we are interested in.
“They’re [Arsenal] severely weakening themselves if [Bernd] Leno’s only just coming back from injury and they’re then getting rid of the backup as well, that feels quite risky to me.
“I think because his stock is quite high at the moment, they can probably ask for more than he’s worth, again, same as us setting a price for [Jack] Grealish, they’ll probably set a price that other people would look at and think is quite high, but it’s clear that we want a goalkeeper with Premier League experience.
“I think Martinez is one of two that we’re looking at. I’m not saying that the other goalkeeper is in the Premier League at the moment, he’s just someone that’s got Premier League experience. I get the impression we’d be happy to start the season with [Jed] Steer and work to the end of September trying to get a goalkeeper in and making sure we get the right one.
“It’ll be interesting, but I think it’s clear that Martinez is someone that we want, and it’s clear that we want a goalkeeper with Premier League experience to help, because there is a risk with [Tom] Heaton and Steer on the injury front all the time.”
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TIF Thoughts…
From Bardell’s comments, then, it is indeed clear that Villa are interested in signing a goalkeeper over the summer transfer window, and that Martinez is one of the club’s targets.
However, considering the fact that Bardell also keeps mentioning the fact that the club would like to sign a shot-stopper with Premier League experience, we are unconvinced that Martinez’s 15 Premier League appearances over a decade spent with Arsenal can be qualified as a great deal of top-flight experience.