Aston Villa have one of the world’s best as Emi Martinez receives Ballon d’Or nomination
Emi Martinez has been nominated for both the Ballon d’Or and Yashin trophy following his incredible season for both Aston Villa and Argentina.
The Argentine stopper won the World Cup in 2022 and was arguably Villa’s best player in the 2022/23 season as Unai Emery’s side made their return to European football with a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.
Martinez is one of only three goalkeepers to be shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or by France Football, alongside Amadou Onana and Yassine Bounou. His nomination should serve as a reminder of just what a good keeper Aston Villa have at their disposal.
The 31-year-old played 36 matches in the Premier League last year under both Emery and Steven Gerrard, conceding an impressively low 1.1 goals per game, averaging 2.7 saves per match and keeping 11 clean sheets [Sofascore].
During the Qatar World Cup, Martinez likely ensured that his side lifted the trophy, making the all-important stop to deny Randal Kolo Muani in the closing minutes of the final as well as keeping three clean sheets in seven matches during the tournament.
For the Aston Villa goalkeeper to be named alongside the Inter Milan and Manchester United number one and the former Sevilla stopper as the three best keepers in the world currently, serves as a reflection of just how much progress has been made at Villa Park since the Villains returned to the Premier League.
Could win it
While it seems almost definite that Lionel Messi will get his hands on the main trophy once again after his World Cup success, it would be completely deserved should Martinez get his hands on the Yashin trophy for the world’s best keeper.
Throughout the Villains campaign last season, the 31-year-old made only one error leading to a goal and made 98 saves as Emery’s side finished seventh. By comparison, Onana was only called into action 62 times for Inter in Serie A, while Bounou made 67 saves [Sofascore].
Last year, Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois won the Yashin award having guided Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga and even the Belgian stopper couln’t match the Villa number one’s performance (93 saves in the 2021/22 league season).
In the last year, Martinez has also been one of the world’s leading keepers in terms of dealing with crosses into the area, falling in the 99th percentile for percentage of crosses stopped in Europe’s top five leagues with an average of 12.1% per 90 minutes [Fbref].
As a modern-day “sweeper-keeper” the Argentine excels, lying in the top 1% of keepers for defensive actions completed outside of his penalty area and he plays a long way from his goal line, with most of his stops coming from over 17 yards from his posts.
Villa rejected an offer from Inter Milan over the summer for Martinez’s services [Daily Mail, 25 July] and with the success both he, Villa and Argentina are currently experiencing, Emery can expect more interest in his keeper.
With his current contract at Villa Park running until 2027, Aston Villa are in an excellent position to have the services of one of the world’s best keepers for years to come.
In other Aston Villa news, John McGinn has described Villa’s start to the season as a rollercoaster