Tag Archives: emiliano martinez

Death, taxes and Emiliano Martinez talking about The Arsenal

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Is Emiliano Martinez the most boring fan in football?

It is now becoming so predictable.

There’s an international break and out trots Martinez in another interview to talk about Arsenal again.

I will begin by defending Martinez a bit. He can only answer the questions he is asked. And if a journalist is asking him about Arsenal, he can politely answer.

It probably shows how gargantuan Arsenal are that on every international break, journalists want to ask him about Arsenal and not Aston Villa.

Very few in England, let alone Argentina care about the 2nd club in England’s 2nd city.

This time it was some bollocks about him not wanting to join Arsenal in the first place.

A fair enough comment considering he was 18 when he joined us; and had to uproot himself from his family to move to a new continent.

But ultimately it was his decision and if Arsenal as as bad as he made out, why did he sign 3 or 4 contracts?

Only the most agenda driven Arsenal fans still side with Martinez – those that would agree with any critical comment about the club regardless of who says it. The “anti-fan”.

The majority call Martinez out for what he is. An obsessed, disgruntled former lover.

Let’s remember, Arsenal wanted Martinez to sign a new deal. He was promised that he would start the season as number one. He wanted a guarantee that he would remain number one.

Football clubs can not issue those guarantees. Especially to a player with just 15 Premier League starts to his name. So he left.

So good was he at Arsenal that when it came to him leaving – for a £20million price tag that was considered a steal – it was only Aston Villa that were in for him.

Villa finished that season 17th. 1 point off relegation.

According to some, “Martinez was the best keeper in the league last season” before “being key as Argentina won the Copa America”. And yet he is still at Villa.

Maybe his bitterness comes from regret?

Taking into account Bernd Leno’s form, Martinez would have started as number one and probably remained it for the entire of last season. Then this season he probably would have been given the number one jersey.

Instead he jumped ship and hoped after a good season a top club would come in for him again. No one came knocking.

There was talk at the beginning of the summer that Barcelona wanted to bring him in, reuniting with Lionel Messi. That was never going to happen.

So Martinez is now 29. His chances of ever being a regular number one at a top club dwindling. The best he can hope for is Aston Villa stay up and then in 3 years time, when his contract runs out, a top club sees him as a viable, cheap, home grown option as number two.

Maybe he will even return to Arsenal to cover Aaron Ramsdale.

For now, Martinez needs to stay quiet. Concentrate on his football, and stop obsessing about The Arsenal.

I look forward to his autobiography.

Keenos

Martinez, Ozil, Wenger, Gazidis and More

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Emi Martinez

Some people are still going on about the former Arsenal goal keeper.

He played a dozen good games for Arsenal and then left.

One weirdo said he has been “heartbroken” since he left.

We do not need to talk about him  anymore. Time to move on.

Mesut Ozil

As expected, Mesut Ozil was not named in Arsenal’s Premier League squad.

He has played his last game for the club.

Back Mikel Arteta, back The Arsenal.

We do not need to talk about him  anymore. Time to move on.

Arsene Wenger

The Arsene Wenger book tour is still going on.

The man is putting in some hours.

By now we have all read the entire book via Twitter.

We do not need to talk about him  anymore. Time to move on.

Ivan Gazidis

We do not need to talk about him  anymore. Time to move on.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Keenos

    Arsenal set for busy week of sales

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    This could be the week we start to see Arsenal make big moves in the transfer market.

    So far, the business Arsenal have done has been quietly efficient.

    Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari have both had their loan deals made permanent, whilst Willian was also recruited on a free – 3 experienced campaigners.

    The club also re-loaned Dani Ceballos and signed Gabriel Magalhaes.

    On first impressions, Willian has added some busyness and creativity in the final 3rd, whilst Gabriel put in a commanding performance at centre back.

    But Arsenal need to sell.

    We still have 18 non-home grown players in the first team squad – and 32 players in it.

    This means Arsenal need to sell before they buy, both to bring down the non-home grown quota and to reduce the squad size generally.

    Emiliano Martinez will be the first out of the door. His transfer to Aston Villa is all but done (and will probably be completed by the time we hit publish!).

    Martinez does not solve the squad problems however, before:

    • He will need to be replaced and;
    • He is home grown

    Arsenal have been linked with both David Raya of Brentford and Runar Alex Runarsson from Dijon. Interestingly both keepers have previously worked with Inaki Cana; Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach.

    Raya would be the preference as he is home grown having joined Blackburn at 17. Having a non-home grown 2nd choice goalkeeper feels like a waste of a slot, especially as we already have one too many.

    This week should also be the week when Lucas Torreira and Sokratis make their moves to Italy.

    The 3 players (Torreira, Martinez & Sokratis) should raise close to £50million between them. By the time Arsenal use some of the money to buy a new keeper, it should leave the club with at least £40million cash surplus to make moves.

    Sokratis and Torreira leaving will also give Arsenal 1 non-home grown slot – although this could get taken up by Runarsson if he joins.

    If we do see a home grown keeper join, expect Arsenal to quickly reinvest those funds into a new midfielder – my gut says Houssem Aouar rather than Thomas Partey.

    Further signings will then depend on further departures.

    Talk about Edouard from Celtic intensified over the weekend, but you can only see him coming in if Alex Lacazette is sold.

    Likewise Thomas Partey.

    With Matteo Guendouzi back in first team training, there is a school of thought that he will return to Mikel Arteta’s plans.

    He has a friendship with Aouar which could be good for both players, and he would play a similar role to Partey on the right side of a midfield 3 – given the role to drive the ball forward at his feet.

    With Granit Xhaka, Dani Ceballos, Guendouzi, Aouar (potentially), Elneny and Joe Willock, it makes most sense that Partey would replace Matteo.

    The 3 likely out this week will not be the only ones to leave Arsenal.

    That will still leave Arsenal with a 30 man first team squad once we have signed a replacement goal keeper.

    The club will still expect to move on Sead Kolasinac, Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers. That would drop us down to a 27 man squad, and also get us within the non-home grown player limit. 27 is a number Arteta could cope with.

    It is going to be a busy week…

    Keenos