Aston Villa backed to reach ‘compromise’ with ‘god-like’ Emi Martinez amid debate
Dan Bardell believes Aston Villa should allow Emi Martinez to play for Argentina at the Olympics after he expressed his desire despite being initially blocked from competing.
The Villans have already failed to release Moussa Diaby and Lucas Digne for the France Olympics squad under Thierry Henry and they have followed suit with Martinez.
Now Martinez has spoken out to TyC Sports (6 June) that “it is a wish” to play at the games this summer and that he is willing to “fight” Villa to do so.
Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell believes the club should allow him to go and reach an agreement that suits both parties.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, he said: “It’s a tough one. Emi Martinez is a god-like figure at Villa. No player is ever bigger than the club but he is huge. The club are in a tight spot, obviously it isn’t ideal that he’s come out and spoken about it publically.
“He’s a guy for most of his career who hasn’t been an international and he’s now won the Copa America and a World Cup so I understand why he wants to represent his country at the Olympics and try and get a gold medal.
“At the end of the day, it’s Villa that have put him in a position to be doing these things but if a player wants to go represent their country I don’t think they should be stopped. Especially not someone like Emi Martinez.
“I believe there’s a compromise there to be had. He deserves to go and play in the Olympics if he wants to.“
Aston Villa could make Emi Martinez compromise
Since making the move from Arsenal, Martinez has gone from strength to strength as Villa’s undisputed number one.
Considering before him the club had gone through six goalkeepers since being relegated, to pick up such a bargain was uncharacteristic of the club at the time.
He has clearly been an excellent signing and has gone on to become his country’s number one despite hitting his best form later in his career.
Martinez is now all but immortal in Argentina after playing a major role as they won both the Copa America and World Cup in less than three years.
Now he wants to try and add an Olympic medal to his collection and really no Villa fan can blame him for that dream.
The drawback on that is the prospect of him missing out on the beginning of the Premier League season which he shouldn’t be allowed to do.
If he can play in the Olympics and be fully prepared for the campaign opener, there is no reason why he can not do both if the club allow it.
In other Aston Villa news, hierarchy slammed over communication ‘fiasco’ that was ‘close to a disaster’.
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