With Emi Martinez set to be reintegrated into the Aston Villa first-team fold, we wonder just how many worshippers will be lining the streets in front of the 50 ft high murals of the goalkeeper, having already made offerings to his innumerable shrines dotted around Birmingham in preparation for the return of “the Diego Maradona of Aston Villa”. It really is no wonder he’s such a d*ck.
Having put on a clinic in trashing a reputation over the last five months or so, starting with that ‘all about me’ tearful goodbye at Villa Park in the penultimate game of last season and ending in a deadline-day push to join Manchester United, via a red card on the final day of the season to seal Villa’s Europa league fate, he’s now set to remain at the club.
According to The Athletic, he will return to the first-team set-up after his attempts to join United failed, but his immediate future depends on ‘how Martinez responds once he returns’.
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Martinez is currently on international duty and kept a clean sheet in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Venezuela on Friday morning, and manager Lionel Scaloni insists the 33-year-old will be fully focused on Villa despite his disappointment in not moving to Old Trafford.
Speaking about the goalkeeper, Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said: “Emi is fine. In the end, his transfer didn’t happen, but yesterday was his birthday and I saw him happy.
“Of course, he must have been excited about the idea of playing for Manchester United, as people have said, but he’s a positive kid. He’s already focused on us and when he returns to his club, he’ll be focused on them.”
But his brother’s comments hint at both why the Villa goalkeeper has a perhaps overinflated opinion of himself – the arrogance is certainly evident – and why he may struggle to reintegrate if Unai Emery feels it prudent to teach him a lesson.
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.
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It at the very least indicated frustration on Emery’s part with regard to Martinez’s push to leave and suggests the Argentinian may initially be watching from the bench to send both him and his teammates a message. But that’s no way to treat a man who should be being deified and thanked for gracing little old Aston Villa with his presence.
“At Aston Villa, he’s the Diego [Maradona] of Napoli,” Alejandro Martinez said. “He gave a lot at Villa, like Kun [Aguero] did at City, like Leo [Messi] did at Barca. They’re legendary players, and it’s going to be hard to surpass what he did at Aston Villa.”
Maradona and Messi are among the best footballers in history and are most revered in Naples and Barcelona respectively, with the love of Neapolitans for Maradona arguably unmatched in football, while Sergio Aguero is Manchester City’s all-time leading goalscorer (260) and won 12 major trophies for them.
While we could accept Martinez’s status as an Argentina legend – a World Cup and two Copa America’s make him deserving of that status – we’re not so sure he merits quite the same reverence at Aston Villa after the high of a Conference League semi-final and Champions League qualification last season.
