Alexander Isak showed player power is out of control - Martinez's botched move to Man Utd is different
Bizot, Marco Bizot. Phew, good to get that off the chest. Now let’s talk Martinez, Emiliano Martinez.
As birthday timings go, the wantaway Aston Villa goalkeeper turning 33 the day after a transfer to Manchester United failed to materialise – and two days after he was dropped for the Crystal Palace match – was just about the worst timing possible.
Comedic, in fact, as were the flurry of responses to Aston Villa’s birthday post on X, with plenty referencing Unai Emery’s pre-match interview against Palace where he replied “Marco Bizot” to three questions about Martinez before declaring “the time is over”.
Once you scratched beneath the Bizot jokes, you could find plenty of ill will towards Martinez. He is apparently a “rat”, in the eyes of some Villa fans. Others say he has “tarnished” his reputation.
All hyperbole, but no surprise given this has been a vitriolic summer transfer window best encapsulated by Newcastle fans’ fury towards Alexander Isak.
In the shouting match that is modern life, only the most controversial opinions are heard on social media. So while it appears some fans have been swept up in the hysteria of a player wanting out, it would also be foolish to assume that those most vocal on X speak for the majority of Villa supporters.
For one, we do not know the entire picture. PSR scaled back Villa’s ambition this summer and with Martinez one of their biggest earners for whom they could have hoped to fetch a decent fee, this was a potential transfer that did not simply emerge overnight. It had been brewing since January.
You can even go back to December 2022 for the first whispers of United’s interest, while Martinez’s Villa Park tears in May suggested something was in the works. That might have been a foolish assumption on the player’s part, or revealed a wider understanding with the club that his five-year spell was over.
Whether Martinez explaining his side of the story would help is unclear, but an apology would suffice, particularly if he follows that with the cliche of doing the rest of his talking on the football pitch.
BRENTFORD, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa gestures during the Premier League match between Brentford and Aston Villa at Gtech Community Stadium on August 23, 2025 in Brentford, England. (Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
Martinez should be forgiven quickly (Photo: Getty)
Anyone who believes Martinez has burned his bridges entirely is therefore taking this story to an unnecessary extreme.
Though Isak has proved player power has weight, often it is the clubs who are pushing players around at will. Given the full truth may never be known, there is room for forgiveness in the case of Martinez.
After all, should we really cast a final judgement on a player for lacking focus for one match on the day before deadline day, having assumed all summer – and even before – that they would be leaving? Marco Bizot. I mean, no.
And was there a strop of Isak won’t-play-until-I-go proportions? Again, Marco Biz… I mean, no. For had Martinez sulked to the extent of the Swede, then Emery would not have played him against Brentford the weekend prior.
Emery does not suffer fools gladly and Martinez has been around long enough to know what is required of him now.
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Even someone who dry-humps trophies on the global stage surely knows that months before another transfer window opens means months of knuckling down and grovelling.
Do that and he can work his way back into the good books at Villa – and he could yet end his time there with a trophy.
Villa are fighting to end what will become a 30-year wait for silverware on three fronts this season, they are favourites to win the Europa League, and if Martinez can return to his best – to the player that made the Holte End proudly declare him the “world’s number one” – then he can still leave with his hero status intact.
Mountains and molehills. It is difficult to envisage any jeers aimed at Martinez echoing around Villa Park beyond September.