Celtic and Aston Villa are expected to be busy during the upcoming summer transfer window, as they bid to rise in their respective colours.
A lot will depend on where Celtic and Villa end up in Europe next term, because they could meet again or be in different competitions altogether.
Back in January, Celtic were beaten at Aston Villa during their Champions League encounter at Villa Park, with Emiliano Martinez starting in between the sticks for the home side.
The two teams will wait to see if they meet again in Europe’s elite competition, with Celtic now having to book their league phase ticket via qualifiers before the start of next season.
Whilst Villa are bidding to finish in the Premier League’s top five, as that will secure an automatic passage into the newly-formed league phase.
But news coming out about Villa’s number one keeper proves that the champions of Scotland timed their move for Viljami Sinisalo perfectly last summer.
Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Emiliano Martinez is in tears as he is tipped to leave Aston Villa
Villa’s last game of the 2024/25 season will be at Old Trafford on Sunday against beaten Europa League finalists Manchester United.
But last Friday, the Midlands side played their final home game of the campaign, as they beat Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League winners 2-0 to keep their hopes of securing Champions League football alive.
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Martinez was in goal, he kept a clean sheet, but was then in tears after the full-time whistle, amid suggestions that he could leave in the summer because Villa need to sell in order to comply with PSR rules.
🚨🇦🇷 Dibu Martínez, emotional at FT as this could be his last appearance at Aston Villa — not sure yet but a possibility ahead of summer window.
Understand Saudi Pro League clubs have approached Martínez in the recent weeks. 🇸🇦@tkenny46 📸 pic.twitter.com/8LC19JRPAE
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 16, 2025
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Viljami Sinisalo’s strong debut campaign at Celtic
Celtic signed Sinisalo from Aston Villa last summer, with the rising Finland star highly rated in B6 and the club wanting him to stay.
You suspect, amid this Martinez news, that if Sinisalo was still with the English side, then he would have been a prime candidate to replace the 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina.
But Celtic did very well to snap him up when they did, because as he has proven, there is a special talent in the ranks at Parkhead.
Kasper Schmeichel’s recent injury was a blessing in disguise because it allowed Sinisalo more game time, and he proved to be outstanding.
Sinisalo’s games for Celtic Goals conceded Clean Sheets
8 4 4