Players will have their agents talk all the time with multiple parties throughout the year. That is part of the business. It shouldn't exactly come as a shock that other clubs are asking about the possibility of acquiring Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martínez.
If anything, that shows how much he is respected and how fortunate Unai Emery is to have such a highly coveted player standing between the posts for him.
The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell shared on X that Martínez's camp has been reached out to by Manchester United. In the business, agents will often be reached out to in an effort to send out feelers and get a sense if there is any reason to explore an option any further.
If a Villa fan is upset over Martínez not immediately shutting down the conversation, then that is reasonable enough. It is incongruent as a Villa supporter to be able to continue for 'Dibu' to do well in the event that he were to leave for United.
It needs to first be pointed out that there is far from anything official being worked on. Talks are in their infancy stages. The critical domino of André Onana remains the key to all of this.
United is not going to bring in a second No. 1 option. Ruben Amorim will either stick with Onana or then be forced to go outside for a different option.
So long as there continues to be a lack of serious interest for Onana, it will not be possible for Martínez to go to Manchester in any capacity.
The issue for him lies in the event of Villa potentially needing to make a sale in order to satisfy PSR. A move to the Saudi League would always be possible, but from Martínez's perspective, he would rather want to stay in the top league in the world and continue to challenge himself versus going to an emerging project elsewhere.
Leaving Aston Villa leaves limited options
For him it would be the worst of two undesirable options; hence, it makes sense to not dismiss the possibility out of hand. This is far from a situation in which the Villa keeper is forcing a move or making his intention to leave public. Instead, he sees the potential writing on the wall.
Undoubtedly his first choice would be to remain at Villa. If, however, that is no longer an option, he would prefer staying in the EPL, even if it means going to a certain Amorim side.