Trevor Sinclair has claimed that he wouldn’t blame Emiliano Martinez for leaving Arsenal as Leeds United and Aston Villa seemingly express interest in the player.
The former winger thinks that Martinez will feel he now has the ‘confidence’ and ‘ability’ to be a number one and if he doesn’t get it at the Emirates Stadium then it’d be understandable that he would want to ‘get away’, as he told talkSPORT (29/08/20 at 9:45 am).
The Independent have reported that Dean Smith’s Villa will submit a £10 million bid for his services, whilst the Daily Mail claim that newly-promoted Leeds are also fond of the North London shot-stopper.
Martinez started Arsenal’s Community Shield win against Liverpool over the weekend, as Sinclair shared his thoughts on his future.
“I thought he played well towards the end of last season,” Sinclair told talkSPORT. “He has got a taste for it and he’s thinking ‘you know what, I am brave enough to be number one, I feel I have got the confidence, the ability and I want to go out there and test myself’.
“You can understand if Leno comes back in and plays that he would want to get away and become someone else’s number one goalkeeper.”
Arsenal’s record transfer deals
- Nicolas Pepe
£72 million
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
£56 million
- Alexandre Lacazette
£52 million
- Thomas Partey
45 million
- Mesut Ozil
£42 million
After watching Martinez in action at Wembley against the Premier League champions, Sinclair then posted on Twitter that Arsenal must do everything in their power to keep him at the club.
This is a welcome headache for Mikel Arteta because he has two quality goalkeepers to choose from – Bernd Leno and now Martinez.
If Leno does go back in between the sticks on a regular basis then it would be good news for the likes of Villa and Leeds because it would increase their chances of signing the 27-year-old.
Whilst Villa aren’t in absolute need of a goalkeeper, their number one, Tom Heaton, is still coming back from injury, whilst Pepe Reina has left, Orjan Nyland was dropped towards the back end of the last campaign, Jed Steer is seen as a number two and Lovre Kalinic was out on-loan last term.
There is some uncertainty there, so the interest in Martinez is understandable.
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