As we found out in the FA Cup Final, Emiliano Martinez wears his heart on his sleeve and is not scared of revealing his feelings and his thoughts. He told us about how he arrived at Arsenal as a teenager from a poor family in Argentina, and was determined to return with a medal, which he finally got thanks to the injury to Bernd Leno.
Now he has revealed how hard it was to fight his way up the ladder at Arsenal, and although he hoped to become Number One at Arsenal one day, he thinks that moving to Aston Villa is a “step up” for him in his career and gives him more of a chance to achieve his ultimate ambition, which is to become Argentina’s national team keeper.
He told SkySports Soccer Saturday: “I’m in the best shape of my career and when I didn’t have the security of that game time, I wasn’t sure about staying,”
“I’m fighting to be Argentina’s number one, that’s my dream.
“Aston Villa is a massive club, I had no doubts over coming here. Everyone thinks it’s a step down going from Arsenal to Villa, but I actually think it’s a step up in my career.”
“People don’t realise how much I’d been fighting to get on the bench. I had nine goalkeepers in front of me,”
“Once on the bench, I wanted to be Number One. Once I got the number One shirt, and I wasn’t sure I was going to keep it, I said I’ll go and be the Number One somewhere else.
“My ambition was always trying to be number One at Arsenal, coming through their academy was not easy. People that talk outside of football know nothing about football.
“I want to be in Europe with Villa next season. Everyone at the club thinks we can have a great season, which drives me forward. We’ve got two wins on the bounce, so we’ve got nothing to lose against Liverpool.
“If you want to achieve something in the league, you have to beat the best, which is what we will try to do on Sunday.”
Well, Martinez has certainly had a great start to his career at Villa, with two clean sheets out of two. Maybe if he can get a third one against Champions Liverpool this weekend, Argentina may start to sit up and take notice…