Former QPR and West Ham star, Trevor Sinclair has torn into Arsenal for letting Emi Martinez leave last summer only to look to sign Aaron Ramsdale now.
Arsenal has had a busy summer transfer window and one of the players that they want to sign is Ramsdale.
The Sheffield United star was relegated from the Premier League last season, but he is one of the best goalkeepers in England.
Arsenal faced a goalkeeping dilemma last summer and kept Bernd Leno over Martinez.
The German has since shown too much inconsistency and that is one reason they are targeting Ramsdale.
However, Sinclair is unimpressed that they even allowed Martinez to leave in the first place.
He admits Martinez put them in a tricky position by asking them to play him as the first choice or to leave.
But he says they should have kept both and allowed them to compete for the number one spot honestly.
‘Listen, I don’t get it,’ Sinclair told Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT.
‘We’ve said before, Emi Martinez going to Villa – why? He was playing superbly well for Arsenal. They’ve allowed their best goalkeeper to leave and now they are chasing their tail trying to get someone in to give competition for Leno.
‘I just don’t understand how Arsenal is being run as a football club.
‘For me, that Emi Martinez one should have never gone through. I know he wanted to play, but let those two goalkeepers play it out for the No 1 jersey and keep it honest.’
Well Trev baby, i cant answer that, probably its a reason we are where we are.
So he gets that martinez demanded assures he would be 1st choice or sold then says Arsenal should have given no assures and forced him to stay.
So he believed the best cause of action was to force a player to stay with no guarantees…and then has the nerve to criticise the clubs decision making
In the first place I think that no player should be guaranteed any starting position but places should be based on performances.
The the run to the FA cup triumph Emi was very imposing as I almost feel we were not going to concede with him between the post. Leno’s injury was a blessing in disguise but Mikel was too loyal to the core players.
I believe he has learnt from that terrible mistake the moment he stumbled upon ESR, he stuck with him and the performance continued. This is the price we pay for hiring people to learn on the job.
In this game of football there should be no room for bias or sentiment as a coach if you want to succeed. Play players based on perfomance. This whole situation is too messy making the club look like a laughing stock to the world.
If I were the coach I would make it clear at that point we had won the FA cup that Leno will have to fight to get his place back as Martinez has done enough to keep the spot… when Emi is your keeper there is a certain assurance you have as a fan and if I can see it from my tv why dant Mikel?
Problem was Martinez wanted the new one spot guaranteed he didn’t want to “fight for it” also Leno lost the spot through injury not because of lack of form so why shouldn’t he be given it back once fit??
That is sentimental. Do you give Leno the spot back because he got out of the spot due to injuries or because he’s been bettered by Martinez? Do you also not know that injuries can make keepers rusty? Let’s all accept it it was a mistake by our loving Manager. One he has learnt from I assume. Life goes on but dishing our 30million for Ramsdale sickens me.
I would rather buy Onana now and move Leno on by January ending. With 10million we can get Onana and then get another 2nd choice keeper for less
Lol so giving the spot back to a player who was in good form b4 an injury is sentimental yet leaving a player in possession because of good form isn’t lol
it is simple : Because emi had won it through his performances… Sad that Leno got injured but that happen very often…(the fact that someone gets an opportunity thanks to an injury. That’s what happened to wrighty with Anelka… You do nothing wrong but when injured, someone step up and perform. Then, it should have been Leno trying to work to regain it, or leave…
He’s gone, yes possibly a mistake.
He’s not coming back.
Just get over it.
A man of few words but I totally agree
Re hashing the story over and over offers no benefit to us or the club
Whatever my opinion then cannot be changed now, so all this is doing is stoking up more negativity
Durand and SueP – the reality of the situation.
“I know he wanted to play, but let those two goalkeepers play it out for the No 1 jersey and keep it honest.”
Great idea only problem was that Martinez didn’t fancy doing that and pushed for a transfer when told he wouldn’t be guaranteed the number 1 spot
Of course, he had perform very well after waiting 10 years. And them just be told you will go back to your previous status. Unfair. I totally get his attitude and he was right to leave and proved since he was right to believe in him.
much in the same vein as when Churchill modified Santayana’s original “condemned to repeat” refrain, I would suggest that if this organization isn’t constantly reminded of the errors of it’s ways, then we too are destined to repeat our past mistakes…so far, I’ve yet to see us linked to a Keeper, maybe minus the suspended one, Onana, with the required traits, which simply can’t happen again on Arteta’s watch
so we should have kept a 6months superstar who could not shut up about arsenal even after going to villa. Well it is his opinions though (the pundit). How many club sell their backup GK of close to ten years for 20mil, none.
He’s been a hero at villa from day one . He was very respectful to Arsenal as an ex player of the club and a top pro . He would have seemed arrogant if he said he’s lift a sinking ship or he’s moved to a club on the up or something even less polite and you need to remember after 10 years at a club he will have made friendships and he won’t want to offend them
how many clubs have wrongly sold their “back-up” Keeper for 20M, who checked every box and who we couldn’t possibly be replaced for even close to that sum, then within less than a years time he’s being considered as one of the best Keepers in the footballing world and is worth nearly twice that amount
couldn’t possibly replace…
then dont stop there start from henry, RVP, cesc, cole the list goes on you know. The only silly thing about the deal was not properly replacing him. He kept bashing us for not giving him the no1 spot. He is a villa player now whose best is inside empty stadiums. Lol some gunners.
Bad comparison… Henry, rvp, cesc and Cole had given a lot to the club already. And they wanted to leave. The club would not have been nice to block them. While Emi sale was a club decision. So absolutely not the same case. By the way, cole was swapped by the club. Which was a nice move at the time as Gallas was a top top CB (until wenger made him captain in front of Gilberto Silva which was, when reflecting about that, a terrible decision).
The club said they’ll start the season with Leno according to some reports
After winning FA Cup and the Community Shield with us, the club just needed for him to start the season then drop him if his form fell but no that GK trainer recommended that Martinez be sold.
It’s the same GK who also recommended Runarson to Arteta. His name is Icana, he should be sacked.
He was sacked wasnt he?
I am shocked at the rate of decline at Arsenal it’s not just Martinez it’s Buendia and i hear Villa are now after Leon Bailey who arsenal have been linked with more than once . I don’t think the smith row offer was an attempt to sign the player just tie up more of Arsenals seemingly limited budget on a larger contract. I think the two clubs are moving in opposite directions as a villa fan i’m happy with our squad, owners, coaches, scouts and tea lady but i do feel for you Arsenal fans i remember the villa decline early 80’s champions of Europe to relegation in less than 5 years so i know the pain you guys are suffering .
Can u show any report based on fact that shows we lost our to Villa regards Buendia??
Only fact based story lve seen was that we pulled out when the price went above what we wanted to pay.
As for Martinez let’s wait till he’s got to play in a packed stadium away from home not empty stadiums due to covid before we start hailing him as a super star!!
10 years at the club and only showed any form in 6 months in empty stadiums
White, Jordan and now Sinclair… thank gawd I stopped listening to talk sport.
Upshot of it is Emi didn’t want to step up to the challenge of fighting for number 1 and was constantly bitching about it when he left.
I’m so fed up listening and reading about Martinez. He is now an Aston Villa player so for God’s sake can we just get over it… Water under the bridge and all that stuff.
I didn’t hear Lukic constantly moan when he was replaced by Seaman. He went back to his home town team and continued to be a very good goal keeper.
In my eyes good riddance and time to move on.
Admin can we stop all ex Arsenal Player articles please. If not I expect to read something about Gibbs, Ox and Theo fairly soon. Surely it would be more entertaining than poor young emi DECIDING TO LEAVE.
First let me say, I supported the decision to sell Martinez but what has happened since certainly boggles the mind. First we made a huge mistake with Runnarson, then Mat Ryan and we are heading straight ahead into another – 30M for relegation star, Aaron Ramsdale. At least we won’t be able to fault Arteta for not planning for relegation.
The chaotic, reign of the Arteta continues.
Any chance that we can stop reposting articles from others attacking our club?
Whats next reposting stuff from the spuds and chavs fans sites mocking us!!
It’s silly season, mate. For every substantial and informed piece of journalism, they *must* push ~100 uninformed copy-paste b*ll*cks based on what “pundits” (aka random ex-players) and “fans” (aka random Twatters) are saying. That’s the law!
👍
Now, Trev – much respect, legend and all – you must understand the difference between a sulky 28-year-old and an up-and-coming 23-year-old with something to prove.
I get it that the price tag looks high. I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason Wensleydale (whassisname) is still at Sheff U (provided the “interest” is real and not just an over-eager agent’s way to attract buyers). But Martinez was sold a year ago, not yesterday. It’s not strange for a club to sell a player and sign another one in the same position a full year down the road. Is it, Trev?
done and dusted – whether you think the choice was good or bad, we are one full year past. Please can we just let this one go. At least for awhile…
Yes but you are missing the point, the Martinez saga was just one of many silly decisions and keep happening. We just bury our head do we and put the Martinez debacle under the carpet with the rest. It isn’t just about Martinez.
Arteta is paying for the mistakes he committed by selling Martinez the only keeper who helped you to win two trophies in a roll. Why bite a hand that feed you.
Jesus just let it go he was good but you can’t av 2 no 1s let’s see how good he does this season don’t forget Martinez made some bad mistakes last season. Anyway as for Sinclair he never pulled up any tree did he
Are we in a time warp? Will we also now discuss Henry’s sale to Barcelona, or Van Persie to Man Utd?
Sinclair – why bring that up a season later?
JA – why reprint it?
I agree with you but these ones were different. Henry and Evo gave their best and wanted to leave at some point. They wanted badly to leave and we cashed in. Emi was very different. He proved himself and would have like to stay. But we just showed him the door asking him to return to his previous status. Why this story popped up now is that we are now trying to sign a new GK that will cost 1,5 times minimum what we got with emi. Not even mentioning we have runarsson who cost 2m and earn 40k a week for not playing. But i agree that we have to move on. Just pay the 30 or 35 for a new GK and forget it. And hope that MA has learnt from this story.
Martinez was clearly miles above Leno’s level. The whole team gets nervous every time Leno gets the ball, he makes so many errors.
Martinez came in and within a few months, Arsenal win 2 cups. The problem is that Arteta/Edu just don’t recognize talent. Martinez earned his spot as the number one, it should have been up to Leno to compete to try to win that spot back. If Leno didn’t want to compete, he could have left.
We’ve sent Saliba off, who probably hates the club now, money down the drain. We brought in Willian, who was no longer a starter at Chelsea, and pay him a king’s ransom in wages for nothing.
Now we’re looking at Tammy Abraham, another reject who doesn’t start, and we’ll overpay for him too. This club is brain dead.
Kroeke and Arteta OUT.
Agree with the GK. And obviously with William who came to retire at arsenal for 35m the 3 years. That’s funny that we let mkhitaryan go for basically nothing just to replace him by a worse signing costing even more 👍 what a masterstroke. But we can’t blame him, i would have seized the opportunity if i was him. This is down to arsenal. But i disagree on Abraham. Not same case, he is younger, homegrown and a gunners fan.