Martinez was absent from Arsenal squad for opening-day win at Fulham
Saturday 12 September 2020 19:52, UK
Arsenal have accepted a £16m offer from Aston Villa for goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
The fee could rise to £20m with add-ons, with the 28-year-old Argentinian due to undergo a medical at Villa Park this weekend and discuss personal terms.
The structure of the deal allows Villa to keep back some resources for the pursuit of a forward, with a move for Milot Rashica at Werder Bremen on the cards. The German club want a fee in the region of £18.5m (€20m) for the Kosovo international, who was linked to RB Leipzig earlier this summer.
Martinez has two years remaining on his contract at the Emirates and impressed when stepping in for Leno when the German was injured in June.
He kept nine clean sheets in 23 games last season and helped Arsenal win the FA Cup, also starting their Community Shield triumph over Liverpool at the start of 2020/21.
Aston Villa have already broken their transfer record to sign Ollie Watkins from Brentford on a five-year deal, while Matty Cash has also joined on a five-year deal from Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal's new faces stole the headlines in the 3-0 win over Fulham, but we were also given firm clues about the future of several current players at the Emirates.
Alexandre Lacazette said after the win that he is happy to stay, despite speculation linking him with a move to Juventus.
"I'm really happy. It's only the press who say l am unhappy and l want to leave. But me, from the beginning, I have said I am happy with Arsenal and "I want to play and win titles, we won a title last month, so I am happy with Arsenal."
As for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and that elusive contract, Mikel Arteta insisted: "I'm really positive we'll get it done. Hopefully in the next few days you can get some news."
The Arsenal boss also said defender Rob Holding was going nowhere having been heavily linked with a loan to Newcastle; he started in the win following David Luiz's injury.
Having survived by the skin of their teeth, Aston Villa now have a platform to build on in the Premier League.
Whether that's with talisman Jack Grealish, or with the funds his transfer could generate, remains to be seen, but the feeling is the club have got the hardest part out of the way already: Premier League survival in their first season back.
It was an odd campaign for Dean Smith's Villa - big summer spending, lots of hope, then injury, tactical naivety and a lack of cohesion. But it culminated in a valiant effort to secure survival on the last day. One thing is for sure, expectation at Villa Park is big, and fans won't be expecting another dog fight. The focus on 2020/21 is build, build, build.
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The summer transfer window will run for 10 weeks from July 27 and close at 11pm on October 5.
A domestic-only window for trades between the Premier League and EFL then runs from October 5 and closes on Friday, October 16 at 5pm. Follow all the news and analysis on Sky Sports News and across Sky Sports' digital platforms, including with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog.
