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Emiliano Martinez discusses how Lionel Messi and himself are comparable.
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The player justifies his decision to reject Aston Villa’s “easy” transfer option.
Emiliano Martinez asserts that he is now as inspirational as Lionel Messi and says he will not take the “easy” option when it comes to future transfers.
The mysterious Argentina goalkeeper’s reputation has increased over the past 18 months as a result of his heroics in leading the Albiceleste to Copa America and World Cup victories.
Martinez, who was a backup goalkeeper at Arsenal until as recently as 2020, is now well-known in his own country and thinks he is in competition with Messi to inspire the next generation of Argentine talent.
Martinez has told Mike Calvin’s Football People podcast for BT Sport: “I touched the sky, like my dad would say. Half of the kids want to be Messi, half of the kids want to be a goalkeeper now. Obviously, that’s a proud moment in my career. I always say that I hate individual awards, you know, now with the FIFA Best award, doesn’t satisfy me.
It satisfies me just seeing the young children trying to be a goalkeeper now because they love what they have seen in the World Cup, you know? So whatever happens in my career, from now on, I will always be grateful for the chance I had in the World Cup.”
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Now that Martinez has won the World Cup, transfer rumors have begun to swirl around him, with claims that he is anxious to test himself on a Champions League stage at the club level.
He insists that is not the case, saying of his ambition at Aston Villa: “I want to achieve something that no one achieves, or it’s been hard to achieve. And obviously, people were saying, after the Copa America after the World Cup, Emi is going to go and play Champions League and he’s going to leave.
And I’m thinking, yeah, that’s the easiest part. You know that that’s easy leaving now in January going to a club playing the Champions League and all that. It seems everything easy. Actually, it was a real challenge for me.
Winning a World Cup for Argentina after 36 years. Yes. Beating the champions of America after 28 years in the Maracana. Yeah, that was a challenge. Winning the Finalissima against the champions of Europe was a challenge.
And now we need something for Aston Villa after 30 years? I don’t know how long it was. 40 years? That’s a challenge. You know, that’s a challenge. And that’s something I’m made for – for challenges, for not always having the easy way out. And we’ve got one of the best managers for winning things in Europe. So I’m up for the challenge.”
Martinez and Villa agreed to a contract extension last summer that would keep him on their books through 2027 when he will be 34 and ready to consider the next phase of his illustrious career.