The Guardian report this evening that Emi Martinez will not be part of the Arsenal squad for our Premier League opener against Fulham tomorrow.
Speculation over the 28 year’s future has intensified this week, with a report of a near £20m bid from Aston Villa, with Brighton also said to be trying to sign him.
Earlier, Mikel Arteta downplayed suggestions that whoever started at Craven Cottage would be the number one, but with Martinez absent, Leno would clearly be seen as the incumbent – especially as the current back-up option is Matt Macey who has only two senior appearances to his name.
The German was one of the team’s most consistent players last season until injury forced him to miss the end of the season, with the Argentine deputising brilliantly.
Martinez is looking to become a Premier League first choice, and with the club in need of funds his sale now would net us far more than it would have just a few months ago.
If he does go, some of that money would need to spent on a replacement, but the Gunners main target, Brentford’s David Raya, has been told he is not for sale.
Asked by reporters if the Barcelona born stopper might depart, he said, “I would like to repeat myself. If the price is right for Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma, then they are for sale.
“The rest are not for sale.”
Raya’s agent yesterday told Catalan outlet Sport that they would do ‘whatever is necessary’ to force a move, and Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana Pavon is keen to hook up again with the 24 year old.
With plenty to do in the market before the close on October 6th, this is another issue for manager Mikel Arteta and Technical Director Edu to sort out.
I’m genuinely surprised by how many people think Emi should just be handed the number 1 shirt. Leno was one of the best keepers in the PL the last couple of years & wasn’t beaten out – he simply was injured and missed 10 games. Emi played really well those 10 games but doesn’t deserve to be the number 1 without a fight which he appears to not be up for. I don’t blame him at all – he has a real shot at being number 1 and at almost 29 I believe I can see why he wants to… Read more »
being number 1 for Argentina and actually playing in World Cup which has to be pretty much any footballer’s dream.
pretty much spot on for how i feel. and it’s not like we didn’t get a good price for a backup GK. I just hope we don’t blow half of it on that Raya chap
If we buy Raya we may as well have kept Ospina.
I’m genuinely surprised how many people don’t think Emi should be handed the number 1 shirt. He has done nothing to lose it. He is built like a premier league keeper. Our pourous defence suddenly kept clean sheets against most of our rivals when he came into the side. He claims crosses, he distributes long and short, he is a large, vocal presence. He catches and holds the ball. Those 10 games were some of the most high-pressured in Arsenal’s recent history, don’t write them off as a walk in the park. He is my number 1 choice to keep… Read more »
At the end of the day the guy who works with both of them everyday (Arteta) clearly doesn’t believe that Emi deserves to simply be handed the number 1 shirt. Leno was one of the top keepers in all the PL the past 2 years. While Emi performed very well, he wasn’t clearly better than Leno either.
I think it’s more of the fact that we need the money and having two 20-30 mil keepers just doesn’t make sense in the current climate. No one is coming in for Leno.
I for one think Emi suits our play out the back style way more. Leno might just edge him when it comes to reflexes but is too hesitant with the ball at his feet.
We’re not itching to sell Emi. We offered him a new contract and the opportunity to fight it out for number 1 and apparently he declined. This is being driven by Emi which really goes against the narrative of Emi being easier to sell.
You can’t read it that straightforward IMO. Maybe the terms of the contract extension were poor? “We would like you to stay and challenge on for cheap”
I am not saying that’s the case but entirely possible.
Yeah. I hope its purely cz of performance basis. If leno is outperforming him in training maybe its justified.
In fairness we don’t know that’s true either. Maybe he thinks Martinez edges it but it’s simply a case that out of the two of them only one is attracting bids and we need to raise funds…
We kept clean sheets in those games because we basically parked the bus and played on the counter, it’s not like we played open attacking football and he was being bombarded with shots.
Chelsea were in need of a goalie, so why didn’t they go for Emi?
Under Arteta our defence is much better compared to Emery
I agree, well said.
You keep them both. You play Martinez until such time that his performances drop and then you replace him with Leno.
That is a scenario that could easily have been implemented this season, whilst we look for a future replacement for the one that we’d eventually sell.
But that’s not the way this club works. We habitually drop ourselves in the shit, time and time and time again. And all roads lead back to a billionaire majority shareholder who refuses to help.
Drop that boring narative and look at the actual facts at play. You can’t keep a player that doesn’t want to stay and if that player is a goalkeeper and his mind might be distracted on his contract etc then it’s all the more reason to move him on if there are bids for him. I love Emi and I’ve been pleased to see what he’s been able to achieve whilst Leno has been out, but let’s be realistic.If you actually look at the amount of experience he has had as a goal keeper it is minimal in comparison to… Read more »
“Our pourous defence suddenly kept clean sheets against most of our rivals when he came into the side”. I think that’s a strange way to read it. Leno played most of this season under Emery, and then even when Arteta came in Leno still played behind a back 4. And during that time Leno was statistically one of the best keepers in the league. We only changed to a back 3 after his injury in the Brighton game and looked much better defensively since (Spurs game aside). So I don’t think you can chalk up all of our defensive improvement… Read more »
Very true with Martinez the team is solid. The guy is a Presence.
I think Emi should have the number 1 because I think he outplayed Leno’s level. He’s huge which helps, catches tons of balls vs. Leno knocking them around the post for corners all the time, and he’s better with the ball at his feet. Also, he’s got the Arsenal DNA. No disrespect to Leno, he’s a good keeper. I just prefer Emi’s commanding presence. I would have kept both this year and used both then ride the hot hand. At the end of next season make a decision on both. We’d get more money for Emi by then too if… Read more »
Emi doesn’t want a fight though – he wants to simply be handed the number 1 jersey or leave to be the number 1 somewhere else. He’ll only have 1 year left on his contract and his stocks likely won’t ever be higher than it is now from a selling point of view. We’re talking about getting 20m for a keeper we thought we would be lucky to 5m for 2 months ago.
Leno one of the best keeper in league? Just google epl goalkeeper most mistakes leading to goals. U wil find leno in top 3.
Hes not the best even in arsenal . The only thing in his favor is the time period.
Neuer, Allison, ederson, de gea all make mistakes
And his goals allowed vs xG allowed was substantially more than the small number of errors he had. Both keepers had great stats for this, and Emi had errors too, they just weren’t punished. Emi kicked a clearance right off an attacker onto our post. Inches away from a calamitous mistake worse than Leno ever had.
I agree with 95% of what you said though I think you’re forgetting the Chelsea game we lost this season because Leno completely missed a punch attempt and left an open net for their equaliser.
Aubameyang also missed an absolute sitter against Olympiakos, I guess he shouldn’t be first choice either? Everyone makes mistakes.
You can find all sorts of shit on Google pal.
Martinez didn’t play just well but showed he is vastly superior to error prone Leno.
I think your bias towards Leno is just embarrassing at this stage Martin…..but even worse is that you are always first to slate other posters for their ‘hate’ towards players that you like. Your hypocrisy is mindblowing.
Its baffling to me. He’s played less than 20 premier league games where Leno has played at the top level for a long time and been one of our best players since he signed. Getting 20 million for a player who, before Leno’s injury, we’d probably fine with losing for under 10 is good business and he’s not got the track record to take a gamble by handing him the no1 shirt.
We love to slate a player for lack of loyalty (RVP, Cashly, Nasri).
How quick we are to forget what Leno achieved for Arsenal over the last few years. He absolutely does not deserve to lose his spot without a fair fight.
I say this as someone who thinks Martínez is a better keeper too.
Good luck to Emi, not looking forward to facing you in the PL this season.
Will be truly sad to see him depart
Me too. And David Raya is a questionable one for me. I watched the championship playoff final and was not impressed. He just doesn’t fill the goal.
He is barely 6 foot and I’m honestly getting Ospina vibes from him. We need a presence in net! Seaman, Lehman, they are the benchmark. Cummon Arsenal please wake up.
Height’s not everything but yeah, he’s the same as Pepe. Not convinced he is the Premier League dominator we need. Sean dyche and his orcs 2.0 will have an absolute field day on him.
I posted exactly the same before I saw your post, not copying, great minds……….
Tuf…… very tuf
Good luck to the guy if he leaves it wouldn’t be the first backup keeper we sold to a premier league club and if the funds help address the needs in our midfield area I think it works for everyone involved.
Fabianski?
Wait. Macey played for the U21s today
Will he be okay to travel to Fulham tomorrow?
Sell him for 20m. Get a joe hart kind of a deal for replacement if possible. Divert 19.99m of money to partey/aouar purchase and 0.01m to our pinch-pocketed 8 billion valued owner as a token.
I’d rather the club just promote a youth goalkeeper. The Academy is filled with many talented ones
Going to miss Emi, feel like he’s done more than enough to earn his chance, not much more he could of done, best of luck Emi
??? you are number one for me
“And it’s half-time at Craven Cottage where Bernd Leno has inexplicably and uncharacteristically passed the ball three times into his own net while trying to play out from the back.”
The problem now for leno and arsenal is fans will get on his back for slightest of mistake and its only natural for us. You let go of better keeper and now the 2nd best is making mistakes. Its like xhaka situation. I hope leno has a thick skin and big balls to weather the storm.
Emi is not better than Leno.
I sincerely hope i am wrong and leno surpasses all expectations
It was a joke about us having bad luck. Leno is an excellent keeper.
What you say shouldn’t be ‘natural’ for you Vino. Get behind your team and support the players through thick and thin. Ask yourself this, would you think it natural if people get on your back, and say that you’d best have a thick skin when you make a mistake in your job, or life in general? I’d hazard a guess, and say no… you’d hope for a bit of support, and for the people around you to have your back. Why should this be any different in football?
I agree. But its too much idealism. Fans in stadium will compare and groan at every mistake. Again Just look what happened with xhaka
At least he signs off as an FA Cup winner. He won more in 10 games than Harry Kane in his whole career
I hope he enjoyed it, if he goes to Villa or Brighton he won’t be winning any more.
Selling Emi to get money when we’d have to just spend that money on a new backpack is absurd. Typical arsenal. The one fact we know about football is players get injured. There is room for two good keepers. Plus, there is an accelerated fixture list and one keeper can’t play every match.
Idiotic. I’ll remind everyone that kronke can afford 2 good keepers. He just built a multi billion dollar American football stadium. And i have yet to see any billionaires go broke due to the pandemic.
Backpacks are expensive these days
Tbf, David Raya could probably fit in a backpack, so perhaps this is actually some really astute transfer business.
I doubt money is the main eason to sell him. Arteta not keeping him number 1 is.
Hes been loyal to the club for 10 years and they dont want to block his ambition to play for Argentina.
But i would hv made him number 1.
Can we please stop talking about Kronke’s money like it’s Arsenal’s money.
Look at the facts about Arsenal’s spending. We’ve spent, just not well enough.
Quit looking for a sugar daddy to cheat us to the top like those whores Chelsea and Man City.
True. We cnt compete with chelsea money but we can put pressure on those capitalists to try.
You say “true”, but then you clearly disagree with the point our friend makes.
Well said! I, for one, would much rather fail on our own resources than be successful through handouts.
All this hate for Kroenke, and the same people would be happy to sell the club’s soul to him.
10 years in a club waiting for your chance is not the same as paying 25m in people’s minds. People wanted Cech to be replaced with Leno without Leno displaying this level of performance. Leno’s best performances came last season and not during his first season in club or in senior team, whereas Emi matched Leno at his peak in his first real season with Arsenal first team! If only we had bought him for more money, we would have given him more chances and respect than he gets now… If we are going to sell him, then at least… Read more »
But Chelsea haven’t come for him have they? Surely, Chelsea would have contacted Arsenal if they were interested in him.
Leno has done it over a long period and in a worse team. Martinez has looked very good in a small number of games, behind a better coached defence.
EmiliaNOOOOOOOO ( ; __ 😉
Bugger. Suppose you can’t really blame him if stronger assurances of first team football and bigger wages are on offer elsewhere… Strangely enough, Villa’s final two games of the season are vs. Sp*rs and Chelsea, so if Emi were to play two consecutive blinders that ended the UCL chances of both (or ensured Sp*rs’ delicious relegation), that would be a small consolation.
That sadness emoji was about as well executed as Cech’s Cruyff turn against Blackpool a few seasons back. FFS.
I remember when he used to go by Damian. The 1st time I saw Emiliano on the sheet I genuinely wondered who he was.
Really sad to see him go. I hope they have at least tried to offer him a new contract in recognition at what he’s achieved this season, and to persuade him to fight for no.1. If he turns it down then fair enough, but I hate to think we’re letting him go easily. I definitely think he’s shown himself to be Leno’s equal, and we might hope for more than 20 million in another season’s time. We’re shit at selling keepers, that’s for sure. Still can’t quite get over the paltry fee we got for Szczęsny.
Do not understand selling him for 20m IF Raya will cost us as well. May as well give Macey and Iliev a chance to push for second spot. Otherwise effectively earnings negated somewhat by need to load up again. Bellerin situation also very off. Sell for say 25m then get someone like Semedo? Will mean we have to keep Kolasinac who would have sold for 12-14m potentially. Apparently AMN still being looked at by Wolves. So not clear cut. I expect its how much you can get per capability left at fullback but as mentioned considering the flux at Cback… Read more »
‘Kolasinac who would have sold for 12-14m potentially.’
Would have if the Italian Lira was still a valid currency maybe.
save Emi!
If Emi is not in the squad Saturday … and Macey played Friday with u23s, then it is either one of the new senior internationals Illiev or Hein on the bench … I will be very surprised though :/
A brilliant end of the season from him and I was in favour of him remaining no 1, but we aren’t receiving decent offers for many, if any other players and our need for a new midfielder far outweighs our need for two top level goalkeepers. I’ll be gutted, but Arteta knows what he’s doing and Leno is bloody good. If Arteta thinks Leno is better for the side than Emi, then that’s enough for me as he clearly knows his shit.
I’m actually fucked off about this. Not at Leno as he must’ve been told he’s not guaranteed no.1. Not at Arteta either. I’m fucked off that the owners are making us so skint that we have to flog a top quality keeper for undervalued amount.
Apart from his size and quality he has something that is quite rare in the modern keeper but is getting more and more essential. Composure and accuracy on the ball. I’m quite astonished we’re letting him go so easily. It really must be the Argentine requesting this, nothing else.
The disrespect to Leno here and on Twitter is unreal. Along with Auba, he literally saved our asses on countless occasions last season (we’d have lost to fricking Norwich if it wasn’t for him). Emi has been great, but why are people not realizing that neither of the two want to be no.2 (Emi wants to play for Argentina and Leno wants to be in the Euro squad) and we’re selling the gk who’s getting offers. It’s a real shame the way Leno is being targeted though, played behind an atrocious defence and was bombarded with 10 shots every game.
More like 20 shots a game.
Very disappointing. Most people are just sad to see Emi leaving which I completely understand.
That it turns into a negative narrative for Leno, I just can’t stomach.
I can’t get my head around the Leno slander at all. It’s like I’ve been watching a different sport to other Arsenal fans. Only Aubameyang and maaaaybe Saka can claim to have had a better season than Leno.
Leno is our Kahn emi should go as he deserves and let’s bring in Brian Guzman
I’d start Emi as number one, play Leno as much as possible in other competitions until Emi’s performance drops or he’s injured. By January one of them will be unhappy and we can start listening to offers for whichever we want to sell. Emi is worth far more than £20m and if it takes another 20 games and an upturn in footballs financial situation to realise that it’s worh waiting. Leno, based on last season’s performance is worth more than we paid for him too but if we’re not getting offers for him because he’s happy then we need to… Read more »
Looks like everytime we win the FA Cup , we loose our cup Keeper
Started with Fabianski then Szcesney, Ospina and now Emi
And people wonder why we remain out of the top four….
Looks like he’s going – and with Brighton also interested an auction of sorts may result (with Villa) and push the price up a little, although I doubt it will be more than about £20 million.
If Leno now picks up a long term injury, then we’re fucked.
Simple as that.
Thanks Stan.
Aren’t we interested in the Brentford keeper? Also, after all this time I think we can stop blaming Stan, can’t we? It’s obvious he is not going to change – unfortunate for us of course – but let’s move on …!
Move on where? 8th place? The Europa League?
Can I ask what exactly do you want Kroenke to do? Please don’t think of me as a supporter of his, but I really don’t want him to him buy success for us; I’d rather we remain a self-sufficient club, whether we win or lose. Having slaughtered Chelsea and Man City for ruining football for many years, surely we’re not going to join them just because we can’t beat them – we’re not hypocrites are we?!
I want him to assist Arteta by injecting some of his 8 billion into our transfer kitty. Why can’t you people get that into your heads……..?
You want us ‘Self-Sustaining’…? Well, get used to the Europa League.
So just to be clear, you are admitting that you are a hypocrite, right?
Yes I would much rather we remain a self-sustained club in the Europa League than take handouts to be in the Champions’ League and win titles, much like I’d rather be a mechanic or a factory worker driving a Ford Focus than be driving a Ferrari funded by a job as a rent boy.
What’s the point of success if it’s just given to you?!