Martinez deserves fond farewell but Arsenal rightly cash in on Villa offer

Having officially signed for Aston Villa, ending an ten-year spell at Arsenal, Emiliano Martinez has been given a very fond farewell from the majority of Gunners fans, some of which have made their displeasure at the Argentinean's departure known.

Indeed, while Twitter isn't exactly the best platform for rational debate, many have taken to social media to claim that the fee, which reportedly could rise from £16m to £20m, is nowhere near enough for the 28-year-old. It's a pretty remarkable price, however, if you were to look back just a few months, when Martinez remained the deputy to Bernd Leno at the Emirates.

At the time the German was injured against Brighton, many Arsenal supporters understandably feared the worst for the end of their season. Leno had arguably been the club's most consistent performer, if not the strongest alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with a WhoScored rating of 6.88 across 30 appearances enough to earn the spot between the posts in our Premier League Team of the Season.

The apparent setback has instead proven to be a hugely profitable one for the club. After all, Martinez had made just six Premier League appearances for the club over his decade of service beforehand, and not since a 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in April 2017. Had the keeper been sold anytime from that point to the January transfer window at the start of the year, few would have taken much notice had Martinez been sold for £5m, let alone £20m.

As such, even the most ardent of Martinez followers couldn't have predicted quite how capable the substitute goalkeeper would prove to be in Leno's absence. As well as playing an important role in Arsenal lifting the FA Cup and Community Shield in a matter of weeks, the stand-in stopper boasted the best save success rate of all Premier League goalkeepers (78.6 per cent), having kept out 33 of 42 shots on target faced. With anything above 75 per cent among the strongest in any season, the fact that Martinez has managed such numbers in each of his previous two loan spells in the Championship suggests it was no fluke either.

Moreover, many Arsenal fans felt that his command of the area in particular was superior to that of Leno, and as such were of the opinion that Martinez should start to 2020/21 campaign as first choice. The problem for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal was that in considering the 28-year-old as a viable contender for that role, they would need to bridge the sizeable gap in their two competing keepers' salaries.

Given Leno's own strong performances last season, had he gone on to reclaim the number one spot, Arsenal would likely have doubled if not tripled the wages of a player that may once again have been warming the bench. Given the finances at the club right now, and their clear desire to add at least one high value midfielder, the sensible option was instead to cash in on an opportunity that would have been laughed off only a few months back.

After all, if the club can raise close to half the funds for a Thomas Partey or Houssem Aouar with the sale of their long term substitute goalkeeper, it really is a no brainer, with Leno proving a long awaited safe pair of hands last season. Indeed, Martinez hasn't exactly played second fiddle to a string of top class keepers in his time in the capital, and there must be a reason he has never been deemed strong enough to be first choice in the past under numerous managers and goalkeeping coaches.

Nevertheless, Aston Villa fans have a right to feel pleased with their new signing given the string of failures that have adopted the goalkeeper jersey for the club over the last ten years. Tom Heaton cannot be considered among those but didn't set the world alight prior to a second serious injury into his thirties, and as such you can understand why Villa have acted. Once the England international does return to full fitness, Martinez will certainly have a strong competitor for a starting berth once again.

The club have, in general, signed a number of keepers that haven't looked up to the task mentally in the likes of Pierluigi Gollini, Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic. All have made errors and struggled to recover from them, and that will be the key for Martinez.

As yet, since deputising at Arsenal earlier in the year, he hasn't really had a poor game, but even the best have them. The one thing we haven't seen at this level at least is how he bounces back from a difficult display, particularly playing in a side that will concede considerably more shots than he has faced in recent times.

In that sense, it's perhaps pertinent to look back to his numerous loan spells, and the most recent from the second half of the 2018/19 campaign at Reading is certainly most relevant. We asked award nominated Reading fan site and podcast 'The Tilehurst End' to sum up his time with the Royals, and they certainly remember him as fondly as Arsenal fans have grown to in recent times.

"Martinez came into a club that had gone through three goalkeepers in the first half of that season. New boss Jose Gomes really needed someone who was not only a good shot-stopper, but also able to play out accurately from the back, so that the new possession style would work.

Martinez was fantastic in his spell for Reading and consistently earned the team points due to his incredible agility and general command of his box. He essentially won us a few games singlehandedly, such as a relegation six-pointer at Ipswich Town in which he pulled off a string of world-class saves," they claim.

That experience of playing in struggling teams will certainly serve Villa well, knowing that Martinez can cope with a different kind of pressure, and so too will his ability to play out from the back.

"His distribution was also top class, whether in terms of having the composure to play short around opposition pressure, or knocking the ball long to a forward. He’s a technically excellent ‘keeper.

What really stood out was his confidence. It would have been understandable if he’d lacked that, given the low amount of game time he’d had earlier on in his career, but nothing ever seemed to faze him. It was clear throughout that he had the mentality and focus of a truly top player.

It was also obvious from his time with at Reading that he was not only Premier League quality, but also that he deserved a fair chance in Arsenal’s first team," The Tilehurst End concluded.

While Martinez may not have ultimately had that fair chance at The Emirates, he will now finally be able to prove his worth as a first choice Premier League keeper. Arsenal would no doubt have loved to keep the 28-year-old on their books, but with no guarantee of first team football, the decision to cash in could yet help improve their starting XI substantially.

Meanwhile, his arrival will certainly do that at Villa in the short term at the very least, with Martinez set to go straight into the starting XI for their league opener with Sheffield United. It isn't always the case, but this is a deal that should prove to be a positive for all involved.