Aston Villa have been told not to worry over Emiliano Martinez’s future as a former player claims he can be ‘easily replaced.’
The Argentinian shot stopper has been linked with a move away from Villa Park ever since he was seen ‘tearing up’ following the Villans’ final home game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur in May, leading to many believing he’d played his last game for the club. Martinez’ wife Mandinha claimed those tears were out of love for Villa fans.
Nevertheless, at that time it was reported a move to Saudi Arabia was more likely for the 32-year-old, but it has since been claimed that Martinez wishes to remain in European football and compete for major honours.
Atletico Madrid and Manchester United are both interested in his services, but the chance of either happening hinges on whether they can sell Jan Oblak and Andre Onana respectively.
Despite not qualifying for Europe due to a dismal season, Ruben Amorim is still keeping a watchful eye on Martinez’s situation at Villa— but whether he’d make the switch to the Red Devils is another question.
Villa are allegedly ‘open’ to selling the player with the club needing to offload a number of ‘big hitters’ in order to comply with Premier League spending rules.
The likes of Leon Bailey, Jacob Ramsey — as well as Martinez — have emerged as the more likely outgoings with a big summer ahead for Unai Emery as he hopes to make amends for not qualifying for the Champions League.
But former Villa defender Joleon Lescott, who was a part of the squad that were relegated from the Premier League in 2015/16, believes Martinez is ‘replaceable’ and that fans shouldn’t worry should he leave for pastures new.
“I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but I think they can replace him,” Lescott told Betway.
“I think they have a strong enough team and style, and I think Unai Emery’s proven that.
“They haven’t missed any player, really, they’ve been able to rotate, add, take away, suffer injuries.
“Martinez is top, very, very good, but I think if they acquire someone with experience, I think that’s key – the experience of who comes in to play that position, because they’re still relatively young at the back. That experience can add an amount of calm.
“I think it’s a loss, 100 per cent, but I don’t think it derails them where there’s question marks asked about whether they can achieve similar things to this season.”
Villa have already been linked with a number of potential replacements for the World Cup winning goalie, including Lille’s Lucas Chevalier who will cost a reported £40m – but the threat of PSR continues to loom large, for the next couple of weeks at least.
