Emi Martinez

[Rory]

I love him, he is not infallible and at times his standards have dropped a bit, and the performative tears last season didn't convince me.

But he's so good, and when i see that clip of him on the open top bus shouting "THEY WRONG!", I think I'd walk into a hail of machine gun fire for the guy, so god knows what it is like as a defender playing in front of someone like that.

He's a fucking winner, with a winner mentality, and we need to be holding on to people like that, because we'd not just be replacing a goalkeeper, we'd need to replace a talisman.

Slightly harsh, Paulie? I don't see why he'd bother faking tears.

The bloke's a footballer, not Meryl Streep.

[Roughlyvilla]

Why get rid best keeper in my 55 years supporting the club

5 million is a joke

But maybe he wants out but would be surprised as his wife has a shop in the area

[ADVILLAFAN]

Think we should get at least 15M for him.

Did find myself thinking this morning, if we did sell Dibu, could we then afford the wages of a Rashford/Marmoush type signing?

[brontebilly]

If he's not convinced about staying when we have CL football ahead then we should move on. Very hard to find a replacement at his level, even distribution wise not to mind his sheer presence and everything. I do think he's on the slide somewhat judging his performances over the season, back spasms included, and at 33 the time might be right to move him on.

[Somniloquism]

Why get rid best keeper in my 55 years supporting the club

5 million is a joke

But maybe he wants out but would be surprised as his wife has a shop in the area

She also has a shop just outside London from when they were based down there. I doubt she is personally running either and maybe wants to break into the Italian market.

[Monty]

My thoughts overall are that, while Juve are rat bastards, they're not Villa's rat bastards so that's fine. Like Bayern or whoever. (Of course I'd have got a kick out of Emi going to Napoli but the cookie ain't crumbling that way. Oh well.)

Had he left last year I'd have been much sadder, but that trophy win really does make a big difference. He would leave having helped end the thirty year curse, with a big shiny medal and the club in a great position, back in the Champions League. It's been such a time having him as our keeper, and if he does go, and we draw Juve in the Champions League in a couple of years, could you imagine him getting anything other than adulation on his return? Me neither.

Top keeper, tremendous guy, absolutely world-class fuckface, if he stays, wonderful, if he goes abroad, best of luck.

[paul_e]

Yep, I mostly agree with that. I'd still much prefer he stays, he's still up there with the best keepers in the world and with some changes coming to how much teams can get away with at corners (currently being trialled at the world cup) I think one of the things where he struggled last year goes away. Take away the handful of goals he conceded where he got too involved in scrapping in the box and his record is still exceptional on pretty much every other measure.

[Brazilian Villain]

I love him, he is not infallible and at times his standards have dropped a bit, and the performative tears last season didn't convince me.

Slightly harsh, Paulie? I don't see why he'd bother faking tears.

The bloke's a footballer, not Meryl Streep.

Emmy Martinez, the acting world's number one......

[DB]

If he's not convinced about staying when we have CL football ahead then we should move on. Very hard to find a replacement at his level, even distribution wise not to mind his sheer presence and everything. I do think he's on the slide somewhat judging his performances over the season, back spasms included, and at 33 the time might be right to move him on.

33 is no age for a goalkeeper, the impact of losing him vs what we’d get back in the form of a transfer fee…we should keep him, if he wants to.

[Dave]

If he's not convinced about staying when we have CL football ahead then we should move on. Very hard to find a replacement at his level, even distribution wise not to mind his sheer presence and everything. I do think he's on the slide somewhat judging his performances over the season, back spasms included, and at 33 the time might be right to move him on.

33 is no age for a goalkeeper, the impact of losing him vs what we’d get back in the form of a transfer fee…we should keep him, if he wants to.

Also it's not just age, it's how much you've actually had to play and what that's done to your body - and he's not played anywhere near as many games as you'd expect a 33 year old goalkeeper to play.

Just over 350 in his career, which (for example) is around 150 fewer than Allison who is the same age.

[Ads]

Not sure I see the appeal in taking a wage cut to go play for an inferior team, that has been consistently inferior in its league for a little while now, in an inferior European competition. It seems like a poor decision from a personal point of view, with figures quoted for transfer fees equally poor from our point of view.

Who knows, but client journalists doing the Cheats business, in a similar fashion to the "Europe's top 20 strikers" being leaked by the Mail way back when trying to hush the £ protests.

[cdbearsfan]

Think we should get at least 15M for him.

Did find myself thinking this morning, if we did sell Dibu, could we then afford the wages of a Rashford/Marmoush type signing?

Maybe, but I'm not sure playing without a goalkeeper would be advisable.

[Toronto Villa]

We will all miss him as a player and more so as a personality when he does leave. He has a global standing, a presence and an aura that will be impossible to replace. It will be on full display over the next few weeks for his country. The sad part is at some point he might be Emiliano Martinez of Juventus and Argentina, versus Aston Villa and Argentina under his name.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Think we should get at least 15M for him.

Did find myself thinking this morning, if we did sell Dibu, could we then afford the wages of a Rashford/Marmoush type signing?

Maybe, but I'm not sure playing without a goalkeeper would be advisable.

Think how could we'd be at beating the press, playing out from the back though.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

He's a keeper. We can't afford to buy another goalkeeper of equal quality and he needs to stay at least for one more season.