Emi Martinez missed today’s 3-0 win over Fulham as his time at Arsenal looks to be coming to an end.
The 28 year old travelled to the midlands earlier today and will undergo a medical at Aston Villa ahead of a £20m move.
Yes. Emiliano Martinez is having his medical at #avfc this afternoon. Deal worth around £20m agreed with Arsenal. Martinez set to start Premier League opener against Sheff Utd #afc
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) September 12, 2020
It’s an opportunity for him to become first choice at a club, and it’s not one fans should be begrudge him after 10 years at Arsenal. He’s a very good goalkeeper, and a great character, but if he has the chance to play regularly and with a massively improved contract, fair play.
Bernd Leno reminded people of his quality in today’s game, ensuring an early hesitation from Gabriel didn’t become something more costly – and the debutant’s man of the match performance afterward owed some thanks to the German.
Arsenal will need to source a replacement, and interestingly the main target, David Raya, was not in the Brentford squad today for their 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City.
It remains to be seen if the Bees can be convinced to sell him, so far they’ve been steadfast in their stance that he’s not for sale, but every player has a price.
Sad to see him go. Top man
Totally
It was one of those signings I hate to see. Had at the start of last season, the club sold him to FC No one has fking heard of for $1.5 mil, it would have barely gotten a mention anywhere. However, he got his opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Sadly, the club needs the money and also he needs 1st team football and he has amply shown he is very very good, and naturally it just makes more sense to sell him on. However atleast he will leave (I still hope he doesn’t) after having etched his name… Read more »
‘and grabbed it with both hands’
Apt.
Sorry to see Emi go. He is has showen that he has the potential of being an elite goalkeeper if he keeps up his current form over time.
It makes it a lot easier knowing that we have a potential future German no.1 to come back and reclaim his spot in the team.
What an embarresement of riches really. Makes a nice change from years gone by.
sad to see him go especially to a team like Aston Villa they could end up in the championship .
Won’t he have to spend time with John Terry now ?
Poor guy
Ugh! We should have taken a stand against Villa if only to protect him from John Terry! I’m sure that he will make a great career for himself though.
In fairness, they’re investing 20m in a goalkeeper. Maybe they’re not planning to just roll over into the Championship.
Couldn’t have said it better.
He’ll always be remembered more than fondly by us. I’ll look forward to applauding him no matter what shirt he’s wearing.
Hopefully that time comes soon, Rambo aswell.
Hope we have something like a buy back clause in case we need him soon. Unless this is only an FM thinky…
Don’t worry, we’re all a bit FM thinky around here
FM thinky? Is that a Norwegian team?
At least FM thinky is slightly more realistic than the career mode managers around these parts.
He is! Well at least for fpl i will have finally a good choice for a keeper! Vila geting a top class postman 🙂
So weird. After making such an impression during Leno’s injury. 10 years at the club and you finally get the chance to challenge for Number 1… I don’t understand…
Arsenal can’t really afford to have a 20 million pound second choice keeper.
Make him 1st choice. Heads and shoulders above Leno.
Ehh he’s only an inch or two taller…so not quite head and shoulders…. Maybe just a forehead above Leno
Leno is the better keeper and he’s been doing it consistently for us. This is to take nothing away from Martinez’s quality, which is undeniable. But for me it’s Leno. Sad, though, to see Martinez go. Always had a soft spot for him.
He’s not a £20m second choice keeper. Based on performance he should be first choice and he should be £30m+
Look at some of the money flying around for unproven potential and our lack of a back-up. This is a short sighted move and another example of our inability to sell players.
It does seem this was the deal proposed a few days ago and we have learnt of Brighton’s interest since then.
Not sure why we wouldn’t elicit a bidding war between the two sides to bump the price up as £20m does seem lower end of the acceptable scale.
Also not sure we should do the deal until we’ve got our one done with Brentford.
If villa do need him for the next game then we should be using their desperation to iurbadvantage
Correct ..this is sensible business and great for all involved . We get some well needed cash from a academy product. Emi deservedly gets the chance to be number one (so happy for him) at a club with a lot of history. The Villains get one of the best keepers in this league for a decent price.
Can they afford to spend 12-15M on his replacement then? Seems kind of bonkers. Maybe they are just not standing in the way of Emi’s desire to go and be a clear #1 at a PL club. Either way, sad to see him go
We have to sell players to balance the books and provide Arteta with funds. No point in talking about selling the likes of Ozil – nobody wants him because of wages/performance level, or players like Sokratis, who’ll go for peanuts if sold because of age/contract remaining. The likes of Martinez, Bellerin and possibly Lacazette (despite his goal/performance today) are the type of player we can actually sell for reasonable money. The usual suspects simply aren’t. If we know they’re “average”, you can bet other clubs do.
I think that’s just it though. He’s waited 10 years for this chance. Arsenal said 1 more year, prove yourself, Emi said no thanks guys I’ve had enough of that. Can’t blame either party and £20 mill is an incredible amount for him.
He wanted out. Good luck to him
He wanted to be first choice keeper at Arsenal first and foremost before wanting out though
Simply too good an offer if true. Imagine saying in January that this will happen. I hope for a decent replacement though, maybe that Raya for half the price or someone else.
I feel the entire point of selling Martinez is to get a few quids to spend on Aouar. It would be naive to spend half that money on a new understudy gk
Even if we spend 10m on Raya, the other 10m still helps with moving us closer to Aouar. 20m on Torreira plus another 10m from somewhere should get us pretty close.
It’s not January and we know he’s a better player than we thought back then. The past position is irrelevant.
If I offer you £5 for a £2 scratch card you would take it. If I offer you the same £5 after you find out it’s a winner worth £50 would you still take the £5 offer? Definitely not.
He’s worth 20 bc he played really well in the cup run. But part of that also was a much more solid defensive effort as we parked the bus and counter attacked. This vet easily could be the highest his stock ever is so if he’s wants to be a clear cut number 1 this could work out well for everybody.
Also super unlikely we’d bump his wages by 50k to assuage him. This is essentially found money for us.
But what if you already have a scratch card worth £48 pounds and you can only claim one scratch card this year? Oh and this latest scratch card you have will be worth nothing next year? How much would you take for it then?
All the best Emi, I don’t begrudge you a move to be No. 1 and don’t look forward to playing against you either, good luck
Will be real disappointed to see this lad leave. Should have stayed in Arsenal and put in a real fight for that number 1 spot at least for a season!
On the 20k we were paying him? I can’t blame him at all and think it’s a smart move on his part. He’s not getting younger.
I agree that he wants regular playing time, but this is a lad that bleeds for Arsenal, I’m sure its worth at least one year to try to fight a starting spot at the club he loves. It feels like as though he just gave up on the thing that means most to him here.
He has a family and a chance to milk this period of his career.
He’s earned nothing close to the majority of arsenal players that he’s shared the dressing room with.
Now is his opportunity to be a number one guaranteed and also gain total financial security for him and his family.
Who can blame him.
Not to mention position himself for Argentina.
With Villa?
I cant believe bottom half tables are spending 20m on goalies.
To stop them getting into the bottom three by the end of the season. If it works, they spend £20 million to prevent relegation.
a decent goalie can be the difference between relegation and staying up. Leno & Auba really are the main reasons we even managed to finish 8th last year instead of a relegation scrap.
They’re backed by moneybags owners. Apparently nobody thinks it’s financial doping unless the club spends half a billion quid on their squad. It’s always plucky old Wolves and Leicester but naughty City, Chelsea and PSG.
Virtually every club that’s been bought in the past decade is backed by moneybag owners – it’s just a question of how much personally they want to put into the club. Just for a guide estimates of owner’s net worth:
City – $30 billion
Chelsea – $12b
Arsenal – $9 b
Wolves – $7 b
Villa – $6b
Leicester – $6b
Spuds – $5b
United – $5b
Palace – $4b
Newcastle – $3b
Liverpool – $3b
Everton – $2b
I’m fully aware that people who own football clubs tend to be well off. That doesn’t mean they all finance the team they own, rather than expect the club to be run sustainably.
I guess it’s fashionable to hate the idea because of the dreaded Silent Stan, though.
Arsenal fans hate the idea bc wenger spent a decade telling anyone who would listen how wrong it was. Our net transfer spend under Stan especially the past 6-7 years has been extremely high. We just have bought poorly and been disasters at selling especially Wengers last 3-4 years
Sadly we need money to spend money. Top lad, good deal for Villa.
In all of Europe’s top 5 leagues, no single team has two ridiculously good goalkeepers. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.
Depends on what you think of Dean Henderson … or David De Gea
A lot of fans of United don’t have much good to say about De Gea
Well they’ve got pretty short memories given he saved them tens of points year after year as the best keeper in the league. And yes, I know he’s had a poor season just gone.
Manchester United? 3 if you want to flatter De Gea ?
I know it is happening but I still want to believe that this is just a rumour.
After staying 10 years at the club we finally got to see how good he can be and then he just leaves. Absolutely weird when you think about it.
If Arsenal and Arteta are happy to let go of Emi, I think it is because of how much they rate Leno and I sincerely hope Leno stays up to those expectations.
If we do sell Martinez it will be because Arteta/Edu can raise reasonable money without overly weakening the squad – particularly if they get a competent keeper to replace him (for less money, obviously).
All the best, Emi!
Once a Gooner…
Hope there’s a buyback clause that lets us buy him and sell Leno for 50m when the market stabilises
What if Leno is amazing?
I have absolutely no doubt he will be amazing but imo Emi can match that, so why not take the extra $
I think if this was a normal market rn, there’s a high chance we would’ve sold Leno and kept Emi. But when the top European clubs (Leno’s market) aren’t willing to shell big money on a GK this year, and Emi wants to be first choice..we had to sell him
Sad to see him go, but I guess we need the money. Hopefully we get another top signing and see Matt Macey shine as No.2.
Apparently Macey has one foot out the door too
They clearly don’t rate Macey and IIRC we’ve got better prospects coming up.
Damn. Im gutted. Definitely has Arsenal DNA and one of ours.
There is now A LOT of pressure on Leno. Firstly to return to the level he was at after quite a serious injury without skipping a beat. Secondly knowing that, because of the contentious decision to sell Emi, he’ll be a lightning rod for criticism if he does show any weakness whatsoever Thirdly, even if he is great but the new defense takes a while to settle, there’ll be all kind of nonsense a long the lines of ‘we just seemed more secure with Emi in goal’. Imagine if he didn’t cut out Fulham’s chance when Gabriel inexplicably dummied the… Read more »
Did you see Gabriel play today*. Leno is going to be so bored this season he may take up crochet.
*not the first 5 minutes obviously
I do hope it puts pressure on Leno to improve in areas where Emi showed in particular what we were missing. Every player has strengths and weaknesses, and Leno is a fantastic shot stopper and great at coming out to defend against strikers bearing down on goal. Emi I think showed greater command on crosses, distributed the ball better, and kept hold of more shots that many other keepers (including Leno) would have instead parried or blocked. If Leno can improve in these areas he would be truly top class.
I think emi is equal to leno if not better at coming out to defend against strikers. Eg vs mane in community shield twice and also vs chelsea in fa final. Not to mention numerous other times in last season when arsenal kept high line. The only thing leno is maybe better is shot stopping.
Heartfelt thanks to Emi for his 10 years of service and excellent goalkeeping the past several months. Wish him all the best.
An example to any player at Arsenal who thinks he is on the outs: you can stay play your way back in if you dig deep and work hard.
Hope we can get Raya quickly and that both he and Leno will stay healthy and impress with their performances in the cups and League, respectively.
Either Martinez or Leno had to go and this move looked very likely in the last few days. If correct, it’s a good fee – I don’t think we could have got more in the current market. Raya is a competent keeper and would make a fine replacement if we can land him.
Arsenal should look for a decent experienced number 2 keeper for as season long loan and use the £20m to get Aouar or partey…
The money from Emi’s sale was an unpredicted windfall…imagine if this was january we wouldn’t even have gotten £2m for him..
How about Tom Heaton? Sitting on the Arsenal bench and playing the EL sounds better than sitting on Villa bench and playing a couple of games in the league and FA Cups.
I remember back to the days of having to choose between Wojo or Fabianski as our keeper and now we’ve got two really strong and consistent ones. Hate to see either go, but with the financial situation and needs of the club can’t pass up an offer like that for a #2 keeper.
Personally I will give Matt Macey a chance if he’s not good enough to be a 2nd choice keeper then what the hell is he doing at Arsenal?….
He is 26 yrs old for goodness sake!..
Exactly, @26 if he’s not good enough after a chance then sell him in January & replace him with some good but cheap keeper not spending $10m on a 2nd choice keeper when we need to raise funds for midfielders
He’s not good enough and will be leaving on loan or sold, I’m surprised he’s been here this long, he’s not very good.
This have to be most controversial transfer out in years. Emi was stunning toeards end of season, so calm, so composed, proper guiding and saves. Would pick him over Leno, but shat can you do?
Thumbs up for Emi to succeed in the future. Feels like letting your child move on their own. Feels a bit but have to happen.
Massive shame, but deserves a run as #1. Buy back clause please.
Apparently going into the last two years of his contract. This is great timing for us – he had a great 3 months which pushed his price up, and hopefully the funds will go towards a top midfielder and ease the disappointment of losing him.
Understandably a lot of the supporters will not be happy to know that he is leaving, myself included.
It’s a bit better knowing we will still see him around and that he’s going to a place where he’ll be just as valued, if not more so. I hope he gets the chance as Argentina’s 1st choice.
Now I can have him on my fantasy league. 🙂
Did we try to find leno a buyer for 40 mil instead?
Heartbreaking.
Good luck Emi.
I feel a bit better after seeing Leno today apart from the early save he seemed much more assured with his feet than I remember.
Bye bye Emi. It was good while it lasted.
Best of luck with Villa, except when you play against us.
Will miss you, big man.
Good luck to him. He is at the point in his career where he needs to be a #1 somewhere after showing his qualities. Financially, it makes sense for the club, especially when we are pursuing expensive midfield targets. Will be sad to see him go, but this is a case where money and a players desire talks.
I think it’s a good thing that we sell one of our keepers. Having so much quality in this position was is not as useful as having the money to buy a midfielder.
But it’s hard to let him go…
Sad to see him go but it was inevitable and he deserves to be number one somewhere. Aston Villa are getting a fine keeper for their money.
Thanks for your outstanding contribution to last season and all the best, Emi!
if i were him, i would stay at arsenal win some silverware, play Europa league until @30 yrs ,otherwise he is making a big mistake coz his new club will be fighting relegation or may relegated.has no chance to play champions league again.so sad for him
“for the million dollar man! Hahaha”
Pity for him to be working with John Terry. Timing is everything. If his form at the end of last season had come while Almunia was between the sticks – or Ospina – instead of Leno, he would now be our incumbent number one.
Sad to see him leave but is there proof he is as good when there is a crowd?
Even if he does get better and we lament his leaving, it’s not like we’ve got almunia or ospina in goal.
I trust Leno
I’m sad to see him go. On the bright side, I’ve got another Arsenal player to work into my Fantasy team now — he’s going to be great for Villa.
Sad to see him go, and that he hadn’t been given opportunities sooner. Its a shame that we’ve had top keepers in Sczesney & Martinez in recent years but have opted to buy players like David Ospina. Glad we have Leno though which somewhat softens the blow. I guess the fact is we need money to get Mikels targets and we’ll unfortunately have to sell some fan favourites in achieve that. Good luck Emi and thank you ?
I’d sell him.
and I would not bother with Raya or another keeper.
It would mean more money out distracting from where we really need to focus on spend – LCM (with Elneny good enough to Unicorn signings like Partey again saving money)
We have two decent options both of good age in the GIANT Macey and Iliev.
let them compete (BOTH) for the number 2, good enough option.
I think if he generates the 20m for us we need to make 40m on peripherals to get to 60m mark to have a shot at bidding higher on Aouar. As mentioned we have outstanding as is with 24m on Mangalhaes and 20m on Pepe/Saliba. Realistically we need to cover to 90m but at 60m,+ we can afford to take a bit of risk and debt (particularly with Chambers and Mustafi yet to recover from injury and likely to be on potential sale if not in January) Torreira hopefully we can also move for 20m, Kola for 10m and maybe… Read more »
£20 million Partey fund
For him personally I’m delighted, seems a great guy and proved he deserves first team football.
For Arsenal I can’t help but think this is a big loss and I only hope Leno stays fit and on form.
Very well put.
We’re getting short-changed here; he’s worth a lot more than £20m. Really is a shame he’s leaving; we could have used 2 excellent goalkeepers this season as we really have to push for a run to the Europa League final.
£20 million is really not a big sum considered his performances at the end of last season. However, if Emi wants to be number 1 and Arsenal couldn’t gave him, i think it is the only way out. I guess Aston Villa knows the situation and took advantage of it but we really have to sell to buy. Nevertheless, it is a loss to Arsenal and hope we can really use this fund to buy a decent midfielder. Hope Emi does well in his new club after his 10 years service with the club!
Arteta could not guarantee either him or Leno regular first team football that is why he decided to go. I can understand his frustration of not wanting to sit on the bench to waste his career anymore. In the end, this was the best resolution for all sides. Aston Villa got a good GK, Emi will have regular first team football in his bid to be Argentina No.1 Goalie, we get 20 million pounds. My only concern is that the backup GK we are linked with Raya is too small built for EPL. He is about the same size as… Read more »
Sad to see him go but some funds to bring in a much needed midfielder.
It’s hard decision but not bad business
Gutted about this.
His rise was remarkable. If you’d told me at the start of last season we’d be selling him now for £20 million I would have thought you were insane. He was never a bad keeper but just never got his chance. The way he took it at the end of last season was incredible. All I can do is congratulate Emi on moving as first choice to a Premier League club and rue that he’ll no longer be with us. The best keeper we never realised we had until it was too late. Leno is just as good but now… Read more »
Sad to see Martinez go,it would have been good competition for Leno and might have got both to up their game- a great situation for the team. There’s lots of talk of replacements but I hope that now we’ve increased the height in central defence we go for a tall GK as replacement: i.e. 6’3 at least.