Ruben Amorim's wish to bring World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez to Manchester United, was reportedly thwarted by the club's board, because they would only punish a loan movement for the Aston Villa keeper
Ruben Amorim did not do enough to convince Manchester United to sign Emiliano Martinez in the summer, it was said. Despite an encouraging performance in Sunday's defeat against Arsenal, United has something of a keeper crisis.
Since his arrival of Ajax, Andre Onana made a catalog of mistakes two years ago, while Altay Bayindir did not convinced his volatile performances and was the fault of the goal of the Gunners when he hit a corner.
It has been clear for a while that United needs a new stop and Amorim is a big fan of Martinez, 32, who played a key role in the success of Aston Villa under Unai Emery. Despite the signing of a new contract last year, the Argentinian seemed to get up to leave Villa after he seemed to say goodbye to fans at the end of last season.
At the time, Emery was non-committal about the future of Martinez and only said “we will see”. That seemed to leave the door open for a raid from United, which the World Cup winner could have ended up for a reimbursement of around £ 40 million.
However, United has seen an approach to sign Martinez in loan, rejected by Villa. Amorim's plea to sign the player was not supported by the United Board, which instead supported the head coach with attacking signing sessions Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko.
Argentinian outlet TYC Sports reports that a deal to bring Martinez to Old Trafford was 'very close'. They added that Amorim could not convince the board to splash on a keeper with Onana still in the books and only punish a loan movement. Villa had since been agreed to let Martinez go, but only for the right price.
Although United seemed to have taken steps after their Shamolic 2024/25 campaign, which produced the lowest competition of the club in half a century, their goalkeeper problems were able to undermine their progress. After the Arsenal -the defeat, Amorim jumped against the defense of Bayindir, which suggested that he could hold his place for Sunday's game in Fulham.
Amorim said about the goal of the Gunners: “You can do a lot of things in the corner, we have to do the same. If you touch that way, the keeper, he has to use his hands to catch the ball, not to push players, or he chooses to push players and let the ball pass by.
“It's the rules, it's allowed and we have to do the same. No (I don't say (I don't say he should have acted differently), I say you choose to push a player or to get the ball. He chose to get the ball, but he is pushed, so he can't defend it.”
Last season Bayindir gave directly from a son Heung-Min Corner in a 4-3 Carabao Cup defeat in Tottenham, but Amorim rejected the criticism of the Turkey international when he was asked if he had considered Tom Heaton on the third choice against a team that was famous for their threat to the corners.
Amorim added: 'He suffered a goal like this, where? Against Tottenham? It was without VAR. With VAR it was a mistake.
“Then, in the next match against Arsenal, who saved the penalty? Who saved the game? You don't remember the game, but I remember that the game and Altay was incredible in that game. I considered everything to place in some other and I chose Altay. I am happy with the three keepers.”