Friday, March 29, 2024

Deal Agreed: Arsenal Approve Argentinian Switch

Arsenal have successfully agreed terms with Wolves for the season-long loan of goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez. 

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The 22-year-old will link up with the Championship club after agreeing a verbal contract with head coach, Kenny Jackett.

Standing as a long-term Gunner, the Argentinian has struggled to break into Arsenal’s first team since joining the youth academy back in 2010.

With Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianksi standing in his way over recent campaigns, Martinez has made just 8 senior appearances.

Just four of those were made in the Premier League, and now Arsene Wenger is moving his youngest first team goalkeeper down to England’s second highest division to gain some regular playing time.

With the deal expected to go through within the next 24 hours, Martinez could even make his first few minutes with his new teammates on Tuesday evening.

Wanderers face a comfortable League Cup home tie against Newport County, and Jackett feels his new signing could be ready to compete despite failing to secure any training time.

However, Martinez hasn’t failed to pick up minutes over the summer, after securing a regular spot in Arsenal’s squad list with the absence of both Szczesny and David Ospina.

But following his return from the Copa America, Ospina has immediately stepped in as back-up to Arsenal’s new boy, Petr Cech.

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The £11million goalkeeper pushed Ospina down the pecking order and even forced Szczesny into a loan switch to Roma, something he described as “winning the lottery”.

And now Martinez is the latest Gunner to make a change of scenery, in what has been Arsenal’s biggest run of transfer activity involving players between the sticks.

Assuming personal terms can be met, the deal will go through imminently and Martinez will spend the 2015/16 campaign gaining vital experience at a club that are pushing for the play-off places.

And having represented his Argentina national side at Under-17 and Under-20 level, the keeper will now push current Wolves number 1, Carl Ikeme, for a starting place.

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And that news won’t be taken as a blow to a goalkeeper who has already enjoyed successful loan spells at Rotherham, Oxford and Sheffield Wednesday.

But with the experience of Ospina and Cech there is no chance of Martinez making any impact at Arsenal, other than featuring in a couple of games in the League Cup if he was to stay.

Martinez joins a host of other Gunners to make loan switches this season, including the likes of Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden and Daniel Crowley.

You ou can check out how all of those loan players got on at their new clubs by clicking here. 

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