Everyone talks about what a mistake Arsenal made in selling Emiliano Martinez in the summer of 2020.
The Gunners allowed the Argentine goalkeeper to join Aston Villa in a £20 million deal.
It was good money for Arsenal but a stunning first season for Martinez at Villa Park, combined with an erratic one for Bernd Leno last term, indicated that Mikel Arteta and Edu had made a mistake.
And they did. There’s no getting away from it.
But one piece of poor goalkeeping business that gets less attention is the North Londoners’ decision to ship off David Ospina to Napoli.
Arsenal only picked up £3.5 million in selling the Colombia stopper to the Italian side two years ago.
But the 33-year-old remains a superb goalkeeper and his performance in the 0-0 draw with Brazil last night proves as much.
Ospina pulled off a series of stunning saves to deny the Selecao in World Cup qualifying.
And here’s how some Colombia and neutral fans reacted to his heroics:
Don Raul
This one, however, isn’t on Edu – and definitely isn’t on Arteta.
Ospina was sold six months before Arteta even replaced Unai Emery at the Emirates and although the latter was head coach at the time of this transfer, he wasn’t pulling the strings in that department.
That honour – or dishonour, given his track record – belonged to Raul Sanllehi, who was Arsenal’s main figure as far as transfers go at the time.
Edu had joined the club that summer from Brazil but it was the former Barcelona chief who had the final say on these matters.
And therefore, the blame, if any, belongs to him.
If selling Martinez for £20 million was an error, selling Ospina for £3.5 million definitely was
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
