Manchester United have ended their pursuit of Aston Villa ace Emiliano Martinez this summer
Manchester United started the 2025/26 Premier League in the same fashion as the previous season ended, full of disappointment and questions. In the opener against Arsenal, the team played aggressively in the first ten minutes, but soon lost momentum. Altay Bayindir misjudged a simple corner ball, and Riccardo Calafiori scored a header to give Arsenal the lead.
United then looked for an equaliser, but Bryan Mbeumo’s efforts fell short, once with a superb effort wide of the post and another time a header saved by David Raya. In the end, the 1-0 defeat was not just a scoreline for United, but also a sign of deep concerns over the goalkeeping position. Andre Onana’s mistakes last season had hurt the team, and now Bayindir’s misses have made that problem even more clear.
Report on Emiliano Martinez and United’s need
Meanwhile, big news has come out regarding the club’s goalkeeper crisis. In a report by Football Insider, former chief scout Mick Brown claimed that United are now almost out of the race to sign Emiliano Martinez. He said that initially the club tried to take him on loan from Aston Villa, but that offer was rejected. Since then, the talks have cooled down, and now the Villa goalkeeper seems unlikely to leave the club. Brown believed that the Red Devils missed this opportunity, as the Argentine seemed likely to leave Villa at the end of the season, but the club backed out of spending money.
Manchester United have ended their pursuit of Aston Villa ace Emiliano Martinez this summer.
Manchester United set to miss out on long-term target Emiliano Martinez amid ongoing goalkeeper woes.
“United seem to have missed out on Emi Martinez,”* *he told Football Insider.
“They made that offer to bring him in on loan, which was rejected, and since then things have gone quiet.
“I believe that interest has cooled from where it was at the start of the window.
“I think they’ve made a huge mistake with that one.
“It’s looking more and more likely that he’ll be staying at Villa, which didn’t look possible at the end of last season when he seemed to be saying goodbye.
“The deal was there to be done, but they didn’t want to pay the money.
“They do still want to bring in a goalkeeper, though, so perhaps things could change but I think they’re looking at other options.”
Given United’s situation, this decision raises even more questions. Onana’s repeated blunders last season destabilised the defence, and now Bayindir’s mistake has made the problem even deeper. Amorim had time to strengthen the goalkeeper position, but now the team are looking at other options. According to reports, United are still looking to sign a new goalkeeper, but Martinez is all but over. However, we have been accelerating our efforts to sign Senne Lammens.
Although the 32-year-old could have given us some immediate impact, as he is a World Cup and Copa America Champion, and has also been one of the regular fixtures in the Premier League, his price tag definitely became the cause of problems for the club. The Red Devils might not have been ready to invest big in a short-term solution, given that we are yet to sell our out-of-favour players.
Meanwhile, looking for Lammens makes us believe why we let go of the opportunity to sign Martinez. We are in active talks with the Belgian, and although he might not have experience in the top leagues, he is cheaper and a long-term solution for us at the goalpost. This, according to us, might have influenced our decision-making, and to be honest, we do agree on this part with the club’s decision if we can pull off the Lammens deal. Meanwhile, Manchester United won’t be bringing back David de Gea despite to Old Trafford this summer.