He nearly retired at 24, now he’s on the verge of signing for Man United on transfer deadline day

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Manchester United have reignited efforts to bring Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez to Old Trafford ahead of Monday night’s 7pm transfer deadline.

The Argentine, widely considered one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, has been linked with a move to United throughout the summer transfer window, reportedly on Ruben Amorim’s wishlist amid ongoing uncertainty over Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir.

Given Amorim’s apparent lack of faith in the goalkeeping department, it seems Ineos have narrowed it down to two options: Emi Martinez and Senne Lammens.

After weeks of negotiations with Royal Antwerp, United submitted an improved bid for Lammens, with reports indicating the 23-year-old is Ineos’ preferred choice.

Emi Martinez has agreed personal terms with Manchester United

However, United have now reignited their pursuit of Martinez, following an earlier loan bid rejected by Aston Villa earlier this summer.

Fabrizio Romano has reported Martinez talks are “well underway” with United having “agreed personal terms” with the 32-year-old.

Speaking on X, he said: “Manchester United have agreed personal terms with Emiliano Martínez and approached Aston Villa!

“As exclusively revealed this morning, Dibu is back as a concrete option for #MUFC if Lammens deal doesn’t happen.

“Talks well underway now.”

Emi Martinez almost retired at 24 due to being ‘that low’

It has been a meteoric rise for Martinez, spending large parts of his career on loan with limited success while pushing to break through at Arsenal to the point he almost gave up on professional football completely.

Asked about the lowest moment of his career, Martinez instantly recalled his loan move to Getafe in 2017 while on the books at Arsenal.

Ben Foster asked in a quick-style question and answer format: “Lowest moment in your career?”

Martinez replied: “When I went to Getafe on loan, actually, I was thinking about retiring, I was that low mate, I was 24.”

Ben Foster loudly exhaled before breaking the ice: “I think you’ve done alright to be honest with you mate, it was a good decision, you’ve done well.”

Speaking in more detail with Ben Foster on Amazon Prime Video’s YouTube channel, he said, “At some point in my career, I felt like throwing my gloves away.

“When I went to Getafe, I was 24, away from England for the first time, and I took everyone there and played seven games. I just felt at the end of the season, how come I wasn’t playing?’ I’m like, ‘What can I do?’

“I started with psychology, I wanted to change my agents, I was angry at everyone.”

Fortunately for Aston Villa and Argentina, Martinez battled through a difficult moment in his career and returned that season. After a brief loan spell at Reading, he helped lead Arsenal to FA Cup glory at the end of the 2019/20 campaign.

He then joined Aston Villa in September that same year, where he has helped the Midlands club return to the lofty heights of European football and has since won the Copa America with Argentina.

Emi Martinez’s one piece of advice to young players that ‘saved his career’

When asked by Ben Foster what his one piece of advice to young players breaking into the professional game would be, his answer was direct.

He said: “Get a psychologist early on, a psychologist or yoga; it saves your career, man, it’s just a mental game, football.

Martinez has long credited working on his mental health to being key to his career.

After completing the move to Aston Villa in 2020, he said: ‘People don’t realise how important it is when you play at a high level to work on the mental side.

‘Normally, as players, you can go into the red zone or blue zone of the mind. In games where things go against you, you think a lot of negatives, which is the red zone of your brain

“We are losing, we can’t recover.”

After a rocky start to the season at United, which included a shock Carabao Cup exit to League Two Grimsby Town, followed by a less-than-convincing win over Burnley, that mentality could be a major plus in bringing him to Old Trafford