Emiliano Martinez: Aston Villa goalkeeper is approaching a crossroads

It can be said that Martinez is no longer the authoritarian he once was. But it is difficult to determine exactly why.

A World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022, having joined Villa for £17m in 2020, he has been one of the club’s best performers.

But this season, the cracks are starting to show, and it’s easy to blame them for his failed move to United.

An emotional Martinez appeared to say goodbye after Villa’s final home game of last season, against Tottenham in May.

Villa were open to letting him leave, eyeing Brentford’s Mark Flecken among others, but Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim lost the battle to bring him to Old Trafford.

United’s data suggests that Ceni Lamines would be one of the best players in Europe, and although he wasn’t as good as Martinez now, signing the Belgian made more sense, both financially and future wise.

They wanted to spend money in attacking areas – signing Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sisko and Brian Mbwemo – with Amorim overruling Martinez’s decision as Lammens joined from Royal Antwerp instead.

On 31 August, the day before the transfer deadline, Martinez was ruled out of the club’s 3–0 defeat to Crystal Palace. When asked about Martinez’s whereabouts, coach Unai Emery repeated the name of backup goalkeeper Marco Pizzo several times.

He returned after the international break for a 0-0 draw with Everton on 13 September, with Emery describing him as “the best goalkeeper in the world”, who had a “massive” commitment to Villa.

But has Martinez been consistent this season?

There were more than one late-match withdrawal – including two after warm-ups before matches against Brighton and Feyenoord.

He has saved 76.1% of the shots he has faced this season – the most in the league – and ranks fifth on Opta’s ‘goals prevented’ stats list with 17.

He has made 55 saves, the 12th highest of any goalkeeper in the Premier League this season. The ‘expected goals on target conceded’ tally – which measures the likelihood that a shot on target will result in a goal – is 20.85.

Villa have conceded 25 goals this season, but eight of them have been with Piso in goal, so Martinez’s statistics should not be alarming.

But it is the three fouls that lead to a goal – the highest in the league – that will doom the team.

The most glaring error was the one he made at Anfield in November, when he gave the ball to Mohamed Salah to score, giving Liverpool the platform for a 2-0 win.

However, Villa went on to win their next 11 matches, before losing 4-1 to Arsenal on 30 December, when Martinez faced scrutiny again.

He spilled the ball under pressure from Gabriel from a corner kick, allowing the defender to score, although Villa said the goal should have been disallowed due to a high elbow strike by the Arsenal player.

The mistake he made last Sunday, where he failed to catch or clear Dwight McNeil’s shot, contributed to Tierno Barry’s victory for Everton.

He missed Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League win over Fenerbahce due to a calf injury, and Pizzo kept his fifth clean sheet in 11 matches this season.

Dutchman Piso, who joined from Brest in the summer, is 34 years old and is not a long-term replacement for Martinez.

But the Argentine is linked to Inter Milan, and Villa are expected to evaluate his future in the summer.