Emi Martinez stance on exit mooted as massive offer needed for Aston Villa to sanction transfer
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez is “fully invested” in the club currently and it would take a “massive offer” to prize him away, according to Alan Hutton.
The World Cup winner had another exceptional season at Villa Park under Unai Emery, keeping eight clean sheets in 34 Premier League games to help the Villans book their place in next season’s Champions League.
Reports had suggested that Chelsea had shown an interest in the Argentine international [Sports Lens, 9 May], but the 31-year-old has seemingly put those links to bed by insisting he wants to win silverware at Villa Park [The Fozcast, 30 May].
Although Hutton admits it will be hard for Emery’s side to finally get their hands on a title of some sort next season, he believes Martinez “loves the club” and won’t be rushing towards the exit door this summer.
“You would hope so,” Hutton exclusively told Villa News.
“All the players that we’ve spoken about, it has been through the spine of the team, Ollie Watkins, Douglas Luiz, Martinez, these are guys you cannot afford to let go.
“The spine of your team is what you build around so it would have to be an absolutely massive offer, but I get it he’s a World Cup winner now and he wants to go and win trophies which I totally understand.
“But he does love the club, he loves being there and you can see it by how he is with the fans. He loves being involved and he’s fully invested and he’ll want to have a crack at the Champions League.
“It’s going to be difficult, you look at Tottenham and the amount of good teams that they’ve had but they’ve still not been able to get anything over the line so cup runs are big for Villa.
“The Champions League will be big of course, if that doesn’t quite work out can you make a run in the Europa League? These are all chances that you have to win things and I would love to see them win a trophy.
“I was desperate for the Conference League which didn’t quite work out, but I love the way that he loves the club. That’s how I felt about it as well so I totally understand.”
Will Aston Villa and Unai Emery sell Emi Martinez in the summer transfer window at Villa Park?
With Luiz’s exit all but confirmed and speculation still swirling around Watkins’ future ahead of this summer, the Villans simply cannot afford to let Martinez leave this summer as well.
Luckily for Emery and his recruitment team, it doesn’t seem like the World Cup-winning stopper is any rush to depart Villa Park. As Hutton suggests, he clearly loves the club and he has unfinished business in terms of silverware.
Hopefully, the 31-year-old and the rest of his team will manage to get their hands on a trophy of some sort next season as it has been far too long. The Carabao Cup may not be the biggest title, but it would certainly scratch an itch.
In other Aston Villa news, Tammy Abraham has been tipped to complete a summer return to Villa Park after a Roma update
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