Emi Martinez

[cdbearsfan]

I remember when we played Inter Milan, ITV only bothered showing the second half, but at the time my dad got Rai Uno free with his Sky subscription so we were able to watch the first half on that. The commentators kept saying "Sound-airs" and "Stown-ton". BFR pronounced it "Sarnders".

[AV84]

The BBC gossip....

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez looks to be on his way out of the club with the 32-year-old Argentine receiving offers from Saudi Arabia and two European sides. (Mundo Albiceleste - in Spanish), external

Martinez and his family are settled in Birmingham but he wants to move in order to win more trophies. (Ole - in Spanish), external

Aston Villa are eyeing Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher as a potential replacement for Martinez but face competition from Chelsea, Newcastle United and Bournemouth for the 26-year-old Republic of Ireland goalkeeper. (The I), external

Espanyol's Spanish goalkeeper Joan Garcia, 24, is also interesting Aston Villa. (Fabrizio)

I did wonder if it might be his own decision to leave. He said he wanted to win something here, but at 32, while far from retirement, he may not get the opportunity to get a "big" move for much longer. 

[Rory]

He's won the World Cup. Give him a slap and tell him he's ours until he needs walking sticks.

[simboy]

My money is him going to Barca. I think he’s extremely ambitious (nothing wrong in that) but reckons he’s 2 or possibly 3 years left at the real top of his game. He wants to win, and he wants to win the UCL. Will Villa win it in that time? I really hope so, but unlikely. Will Barca? Well, they’ll qualify without a real struggle and were most people’s favourites to turn over Inter.

Why Barca? Language and they’re in the market for a keeper. RM aren’t, nor are any of the other teams who perennially populate the backend of the completion. I suspect he wouldn’t want to learn a new language.

My view, for what it’s worth, is this is his decision, not the club’s. It doesn’t make sense for it to be a club decision at this time.

Gutted he will be going.

[ChicagoLion]

Does he speak Catalan?

[Dave]

My money is him going to Barca. I think he’s extremely ambitious (nothing wrong in that) but reckons he’s 2 or possibly 3 years left at the real top of his game. He wants to win, and he wants to win the UCL. Will Villa win it in that time? I really hope so, but unlikely. Will Barca? Well, they’ll qualify without a real struggle and were most people’s favourites to turn over Inter.

Why Barca? Language and they’re in the market for a keeper. RM aren’t, nor are any of the other teams who perennially populate the backend of the completion. I suspect he wouldn’t want to learn a new language.

My view, for what it’s worth, is this is his decision, not the club’s. It doesn’t make sense for it to be a club decision at this time.

Gutted he will be going.

Although it feels unlikely they'd be able to pay the £40m or so that we'd presumably want

Oh what's that? They have £40m-rated Ferran Torres kicking around that we've been linked with more often than Benni McCarthy?

[simboy]

Deleted

[simboy]

Barca are in the market for a keeper and Martinez wants to win the UCL. Now that may be 2+2=37 …

[Steve67]

Losing Emi is a blow because he’s the best keeper I’ve seen at Villa. But, if we are able to do PSR workaround/swap deals for the likes of Emi, Bailey, Ramsey, hopefully there are some exciting players inbound.

[PaulWinch again]

Barca are in the market for a keeper and Martinez wants to win the UCL. Now that may be 2+2=37 …

If it is Barca, they’ll probably try to pay in NFT’s.

[Mister E]

Although it feels unlikely they'd be able to pay the £40m or so that we'd presumably want
Oh what's that? They have £40m-rated Ferran Torres kicking around that we've been linked with more often than Benni McCarthy?

Not a fan of F Torres; seems more highly-rated than performances warrant.

[ChicagoLion]

Although it feels unlikely they'd be able to pay the £40m or so that we'd presumably want
Oh what's that? They have £40m-rated Ferran Torres kicking around that we've been linked with more often than Benni McCarthy?

Not a fan of F Torres; seems more highly-rated than performances warrant.

Same, over hyped.

[Dave]

Plus, it'll make people complaining about Torres being overrated and not as good as the English bloke he's replaced really confusing on here.

[Villan82]

Are we forever destined to be in this vicious post 1996 cycle of players wanting to move to win trophies and thereby scuppering our chances of doing it?

Yorke in 1998 (top at Christmas)
Barry in 2009 (league cup final, lost)
Milner in 2010 (3 6th finishes)
Delph and Benteke in 2015 (FA cup final, lost)
Joe in 2021 (who knows)
...?? in 2025 (established again and reaching semi-finals twice)

If any of the above gave us one more year we may well have more cups in the cabinet.

[Dave]

I think your 2015 ones are a bit of an outlier.

They were probably very wise to get off that sinking ship before it took them down with it.