View: Aston Villa face transfer battle as Emiliano Martinez appears on Manchester United radar
Emiliano Martinez has emerged as a potential transfer target for Manchester United, leaving Aston Villa with a battle on their hands to keep hold of him.
The Argentine joined the club from Arsenal in 2020 in a deal worth in excess of £20m, after backing himself to be one of the better goalkeepers in the division if given the opportunity.
He achieved that, becoming a regular at club and international level and winning Copa America as well as establishing himself as the Villa number one since arriving.
But now a report from Football Insider claims that Manchester United are keeping “close tabs” on the 30-year-old as they weigh up their options for the coming summer.
David De Gea is set to enter the final 12 months of his contract at Old Trafford, and with a chance to get his giant wage off the books the club are eyeing up potential alternatives.
And if the Red Devils are to come in with an offer for Martinez, it will be a huge uphill battle for Villa to be able to keep him out of their grasp.
Right now Villa are struggling with form and that means that any sort of success this season is likely out of the window unless they’re able to turn it around quickly and get a big run of form going.
United on the other hand have overcome a bumpy ride to start the campaign to win their last four Premier League games in a row, setting up a charge for the Champions League places. At worst though, they’ll be expected to finish in the European places for next season.
That is likely to be enough of a pull to convince Martinez to leave, while we already know about the financial power they have available to them after spending over £200m in the most recent transfer window.
Losing Martinez would be a huge blow, especially to another Premier League club, because they are aiming to close the gap on the teams above them not widen it by losing their best players.
It would undoubtedly take a big fee, but if United really want him it will be difficult to stop them.
Villa should start working on convincing him to stay put immediately, but a new contract won’t do it because he only signed one at the start of the year. They must convince him with performances on the pitch.
In other Aston Villa news, Trevoh Chalobah has emerged as a potential January transfer target