emiliano martinez arsenal
Former England goalkeeper David James has criticized Mikel Arteta for the sale of Emi Martinez. The Argentine goalkeeper had been with Arsenal for a decade but made only 15 Premier League appearances before his 2020 transfer to Aston Villa for £17 million. After his move, Martinez’s career soared: he won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, earned the Golden Glove award, and was named the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper for 2022.
James discussed the issue on the Seaman Says podcast, arguing that Arteta made a mistake by letting Martinez leave:
David James said, “It’s interesting when you look at Premier League goalkeepers over a number of years now, there’s not many characters. Prior to that there were more characters for whatever reason. He wants to be in the biggest games. When you look at the [David] Raya and [Aaron] Ramsdale situation at Arsenal and obviously Martinez was allowed to go because of Bernd Leno, who’s a decent goalkeeper. But I think Martinez would have been the perfect goalkeeper for Arsenal right now. I think he’s a monster. Weirdly there’s not a lot of goalkeepers in the Premier League these days who are capable of getting to the top corner.”
Since Martinez’s departure, Arsenal’s goalkeeping situation has seen significant changes. Ramsdale was acquired from Sheffield United in 2021 but later moved to Southampton, and Bernd Leno was transferred to Fulham. Former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman shared his thoughts on David Raya’s recent performances:
David Seaman said, “To be fair to David, he has started this season really well. When he first came in under the pressure of replacing Aaron last season, he found it a little bit difficult, if I am honest, and getting used to the pressure of playing for Arsenal, but then he got his confidence back. We are all seeing that this season he has been making some big, big saves at important times of the game. He is having a great season so far.”
