AerialThreat

Does your Dendocker interest suggest he may well leave after all, despite the public briefings?

Interesting. I find most people on VT to be welcoming and keen to chat football with people from outside of the Villa bubble. It provides a different perspective for everyone. (At least that was my experience last year when I signed up to give you lot the low down on Emi Martinez.) Guess there are always a few bad apples like you in every walk of life though.

The comments here about player valuations are spot on. It's not really about the player's ability at all in the end. The fee is just the sweet spot between the buying club's desire to get the player vs the selling clubs desire to keep. Hence why teams can never shift unwanted players for decent fees, as most of the league, especially my team, are finding out right now. For a player like Jack, it's a different story and I reckon Villa can hold out for at least another £20m here.

If Villa are willing to sell, is there any chance that you boys could get any of their players as part of the deal? (Would you want any of them?)

Congrats guys. His farewell video tells you all you need to know about the man. Just please don’t come looking for me if he does ever make an error* *unlikely

We owe him some back pay - new contract was promised at the end of last season but negotiations have been um... 'delayed' ... We said we'd make up the difference so he'll get it. There's no bad blood at all.

Just to revisit the question around Martinez's distribution, Sam Dean of the Telegraph has published this article today: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/09/14/revealed-arsenal-keep-scoring-goal/ The relevant extract is as follows:

No - I don’t think we anticipated that they’d play hardball - reckon we thought we could get him for sub £10m. Thats’s why this Icelandic guy is now being linked as well.

The term “good shot stopper” is generally reserved for the bang average keeper who can’t do anything else except the basics

Not his finest hour. But after Emery was sacked, Arteta brought in Inaki Cana, formerly Brentford’s GK coach, and neither Martinez nor Leno have looked back. Cana has had a big impact on Emi’s improvement. Incidentally, we are looking at David Raya from Brentford as Martinez’s replacement on Cana’s recommendation. We also have an Icelandic keeper on the radar, who also worked with Cana before.

You’ll laugh mate. But I can genuinely say he caught every single cross he went for in those 10-12 games he played for us after the restart. It became a bit weird to me that he was so consistent on them.

100% correct. A lot of fans think we’ve sold the wrong guy, but there is an emotional attachment to Emi that drives a lot of that because he’s been with us since he was a kid. I think Leno is probably the better keeper - mainly due to having proved it over a longer period of time - but it’s close. As others have said on here - the challenge for Emi is to now prove, as a first choice, that he can maintain his performance levels.

I personally feel like his distribution is better than Leno’s. Emi is very comfortable with the ball at his feet even when he’s being closed down. You just can’t play for Arteta if you aren’t. He’s a real presence and really settled our defence after the restart. His size will surprise you as will his agility. He made a save from Mahrez in the FA Cup semi where he just snapped down on the spot to block the attempt - brilliant. Try and track that down if you can.

Hi folks Friendly Arsenal fan here! Just dropped by to tell you just how good a keeper you’re getting in Emi Martinez. (Can confirm the deal is 100% done!) We’re gutted to be losing him but we need to sell to raise funds for signings - we can’t afford to have two £20m+ rated keepers. One thing worth mentioning - he’s the best keeper I’ve ever seen in terms of claiming crosses. It’s like he’s got superglue on his gloves! Wishing you all the best for the season ahead! Gareth aka @AerialThreat (Twitter)

Hi folks Just dropped by to tell you just how good a keeper you’re getting in Emi Martinez.(Can confirm the deal is 100% done!) We’re gutted to be losing him but we need to sell to raise funds for signings - we can’t afford to have two £20m+ rated keepers. One thing worth mentioning - he’s the best keeper I’ve ever seen in terms of claiming crosses. It’s like he’s got superglue on his gloves! Wishing you all the best for the season ahead! Gareth aka @AerialThreat (Twitter).