Chris Sutton has claimed that Emiliano Martinez spent eight ‘really odd’ years at Arsenal, before moving to Aston Villa, as he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
The former Villa striker questioned why managers didn’t see his talent early enough because he is now a ‘phenomenal’ goalkeeper.
Last summer, after Martinez helped Arsenal win the FA Cup, he was sold by Edu and Co. to Aston Villa.
In his debut campaign at Villa Park, he secured 15 clean sheets in the Premier League and is up and running once again during this campaign.
Martinez helped Villa beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford over the weekend, including his antics which led to Bruno Fernandes skying his stoppage-time penalty back to Portugal.
Nonetheless, Sutton spoke about Martinez’s time in North London and the journey he has had to get to his current position.
“It’s really odd, isn’t it, those eight years at Arsenal,” said Sutton. “We see the talent, which he has now.
“It’s a different position to any other position, which is an obvious thing to say.
“Just in terms of managers thought process, for whatever reason, the managers just thought he was second best.
“Now he has moved to Villa and even Arsenal fans are thinking ‘how did we let this guy go’. He is a phenomenal goalkeeper. Why did the managers not see that?”
Martinez joined Arsenal as a youngster in 2018, but he couldn’t make his mark in North London.
It’s not like the Gunners had high-quality goalkeepers blocking his pathway to number one, in actual fact, the club struggled in that department for a long while.
But even loan spells, to the likes of Reading and Sheffield Wednesday didn’t provide the Copa America winner with the boost he needed to elevate his career.
Until he won the FA Cup with Arsenal, and since then, he has never looked back and it could be argued that he is probably one of the best keepers in the Premier League, right now.
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