Aston Villa 26yr old player Emiliano Martinez will no doubt be linked with big-money moves to Europe’s elite clubs after he helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar.
But any move to prise the Argentine away from Villa Park would take a huge offer, especially as the 30-year-old has recently signed a new contract at the club. Martinez signed a new five-year deal until 2027 in January and has already claimed that Villa “feels like home”.
After penning his new deal at the start of the year, he said: “They opened the doors for me. With the Copa America they might be worried about new clubs coming in and me going to play at a Champions League club and the first thing I say to the sporting director is, ‘I want to be here’.
“This is the club that helped me be a No.1. I play every single league game. I love everything about Aston Villa especially the fans.” And after signing his new deal, Martinez assured fans where he saw his future.
The Argentina international added: “When I signed for Aston Villa, obviously I had massive ambitions about being in Europe and being the best version of myself, and the club have opened a really good door for me. They made me a better goalkeeper, with the goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler, Christian (Purslow), Johan (Lange), they’re good people, very loyal and ambitious as well, like the owners.
“So winning a major tournament for Argentina, thank you to Aston Villa for developing me as a good goalkeeper; and I think actually I can improve much more here and I want to commit my future here. It feels like home.”
After Villa’s poor start to the season, Martinez told Sky Sports: “Even when we win and I concede I can’t sleep at night. I love this club, I said it since day one, I love this club and I love being here, I didn’t want to go anywhere. I owe the fans for always having my back, so I want to repay them, when I see kids with my shirt in the crowd and they shout my name, it makes me want to stay and obviously I fell in love with this club. I really care about this club and I want to take this club to Europe.”
