Emiliano Martinez has revealed that he never even wanted to join Arsenal, admitting that he only did so to please his family.
The Argentina international has emerged as one of the world’s best goalkeepers over the past 15 months or so.
His rise to being one of the game’s most talented stoppers started when Bernd Leno suffered an injury for Arsenal in a defeat at Brighton during Project Restart last June.
Since Martinez deputised for the German, the South American has been sensational, inspiring the Gunners to FA Cup glory a few months later and just this summer, helped his country to a Copa America title.
You could argue that he’s got even better since joining Aston Villa in a £20 million move last summer.
But this journey stems back to 2012 when Martinez left his native Argentina to sign up for Arsene Wenger’s project at the Emirates Stadium.
He told El Pais on Saturday: “The decision was more for them [family] than anything else. I didn’t want to go. I did not know the language. Wenger told me that the goalkeeper had to speak in English.”
Profit
Arsenal get mocked for their decision to sell Martinez because honestly, he is much better than Leno and Edu and Mikel Arteta probably should’ve kept hold of him.
But that’s not to say that the Gunners didn’t do a good piece of business because they did; not only because they got £20 million, but because Edu wound up making a huge profit for the club.
Wenger signed him for only £1.3 million nine years ago, which means Arsenal made approximately £18.7 million on the deal.
In terms of profit, it’s major, but it makes you wonder what he’d be worth now had he enjoyed a stellar full season under Arteta.
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