A transfer saga which started with tears at Villa Park following the penultimate game of last season will either end with an unwanted move to Turkey or Saudi Arabia, or a tale-between-legs return for Emiliano Martinez to play for a club where bridges have been burned to the point where home fans who once hailed him as “the world’s number one” are more likely to be chanting “you’re sh*t, ahhhh” as he takes a goal kick.
The World Cup and two-time Yashin Trophy winner has given a clinic in trashing his reputation over the last four-and-a-half months, starting with that surprise signal of intent to leave after the 2-0 victory over Spurs at home on May 16.
He very purposefully left no-one in doubt over his desire for something new as he applauded the Villa fans with tears in his eyes. The coverage between that game and the defeat to Manchester United which saw them fail to qualify for the Champions League became all about his future, when the focus should have been on that pivotal final-day clash, in which he was shown a red card to help seal their Europa League fate.
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Unai Emery was asked by Sky Sports why Martinez – who was suspended for their first game of the season following that red card against United before returning to play against Brentford – was left out of the squad altogether for the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
“Bizot, Marco Bizot,” Emery replied in reference to the 34-year-old summer signing who took his place, before again saying his new goalkeepers name when asked about Martinez’s whereabouts and again when asked if “Bizot, Marc Bizot” would be his number one going forward.
Emery perhaps feared he couldn’t get through a sentence with regard to Martinez without lambasting the Argentinian, who told Villa he wanted to join United on deadline day and had agreed personal terms over a move to Old Trafford, having held his hand to the Villa badge in way of apology to the fans in the loss to Brentford. Quite the snake, as they say.
Martinez has always been a polarising character. From using the Golden Glove as a fake phallus to general time-wasting and on-pitch sh*thousery, he’s a guy we love to hate, which results in fans of his club loving him even more. A task made easier by him being a brilliant goalkeeper.
Strong emotions often lead to brutal break-ups, but very few brutal break-ups involve one party crawling back in grovelling apology hours after flipping the other the bird.
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The Red Devils had a loan bid rejected for Martinez earlier in the window and were considering a last-gasp approach with neither Altay Bayindir nor Andre Onana granting manager Ruben Amorim any sort of confidence in their abilities at the start of this season, much to Martinez’s obvious excitement.
Reports suggest Martinez has Jadon Sancho to thank for failing to get his desired move to Old Trafford. The winger has moved to Villa Park on a season-long loan but it’s claimed United would have had the funds to pay Martinez’s £200,000 per week wages had they received a transfer fee for Sancho.
Instead they’ve settled for Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp – in what is a similarly weird move to Manchester City’s signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma – and Martinez is left to consider either Galatasaray, whom he rejected a move to on deadline day, or Saudi Arabia, whose approaches he’s rebuffed throughout the summer.
They’re certainly not the destinations he will have had in mind as he tearfully made his way around Villa Park those few weeks ago, and it’s very hard to feel sympathy for a man who used to be Aston Villa’s d*ckhead, but is now just a d*ckhead.
