Martin Keown says Arsenal have sold a ‘quite remarkable’ footballer

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Martin Keown now thinks Mikel Arteta let a “quite remarkable” footballer leave Arsenal.

A number of big names have departed the Emirates Stadium under the Spaniard, with the headliners found below.

• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
• Mesut Ozil
• Alexandre Lacazette
• Matteo Guendouzi
• Joe Willock
• Granit Xhaka
• Folarin Balogun

All of these were necessary departures, and Arteta has mostly been proven right after turning Arsenal into Premier League title challengers with his efforts in north London.

However, there is one name – not on the above list – who Martin Keown is now describing as somebody who got away for Arsenal…

Martin Keown names Emiliano Martinez as one who got away for Arsenal

Well, the man who made 440 appearances for Arsenal thinks it was wrong to sell Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa.

The Gunners sold the Argentina international to the Villans for just £17m back in September 2020 and opted to keep Bernd Leno as No.1 in between the sticks.

Since then, Martinez has won the following awards on his way to becoming one of the best glovesmen on the planet.

• FIFA World Cup: 2022
• Copa América: 2021
• CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022
• Yashin Trophy: 2023
• The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper: 2022
• FIFA World Cup Golden Glove: 2022
• Copa América Best Goalkeeper: 2021
• Copa América Team of the Tournament: 2021
• Aston Villa Player of the Season: 2020/21

After the South American saved two penalties to fire Aston Villa into the final four of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, Keown told talkSPORT: “He is quite remarkable in those situations. He is some goalkeeper, isn’t he?

“I think he is the Arsenal goalkeeper that got away, quite frankly. World Cup winner as he is, and he just goes from strength to strength. He is a really important player in that Villa team.”

Huge mistake from Mikel Arteta

In hindsight, choosing Leno over Martinez in 2020 has proven to be a huge mistake by Arteta.

Edu has since spent £30m on Aaron Ramsdale and another £30m on David Raya as Arsenal attempt to find a goalkeeper as good as the Aston Villa No.1 – in our view, neither the Englishman or the Spaniard are anywhere near as talented as the Argentine.

Amid all of this talk about Martinez, Arsenal have actually been linked with another goalkeeper – one who is among the best performers in Europe this season…