Dibu Martínez was a substitute in Aston Villa’s victory in the Premier League: the goalkeeper’s situation

Aston Villa won 2-0 at Tottenham as a visitor, in one of the games played on January 1 for day 18 of the Premier League. Emiliano Buendía, at 50 minutes, opened the account after capitalizing on an error by French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, and Douglas Luiz increased at 73 for the success of those led by the Spanish Unai Emery, who remain at the bottom of the table , but somewhat more relieved.

However, one of the novelties was among the absent: Emiliano Martinezchosen as the best goalkeeper of the Qatar 2022 World Cup two weeks ago, after the consecration of Argentina, was a substitute and did not enter, since Emery kept the Swedish Robin Olsen as the starter.

Why did Dibu remain on the substitute bench? On the one hand, Aston Villa has already begun to probe another goalkeeper, given the possibility that Martínez will be transferred in the winter transfer market. The man from Mar del Plata, after becoming world champion, is in the sights of Bayern Munich, who need a substitute to replace the injured Manuel Neuer, who will be out for several months after suffering a fracture while skiing, and, given this chance, Jordan Pickford, the goalkeeper of the English team, would be chosen by Aston Villa in case Dibu moves away from the Birmingham club. Pickford plays for Everton and did not renew his contract with the Toffees, so the ‘Villains’ are attentive to contact him, in case the departure of Martínez becomes a reality.

But there is more: a few days ago, Emery spoke about Dibu’s performance in the World Cup, and hinted that he did not really like the particular way of celebrating that the goalkeeper from Mar del Plata has. “We are very proud of him. Every Aston Villa fan should be very proud, “he praised him, first, and then added:”When there are big emotions I understand that it is difficult to control. I’ll talk to him next week about some celebrations. Now he is with his team, but when he is with us, under our responsibility, we will be able to talk to him ”.

This Sunday, after the victory, Emery again referred to the situation of the Argentine goalkeeper, when he was asked if he should fight to regain ownership. “Emi is very important, he is the starter. Robin [Olsen] You already know what your role is. Matches like today’s are those in which we need a performance like the one he had. We can believe Olsen, he really deserved to keep a clean sheet, he did a fantastic job. Martínez will train tomorrow and on Tuesday with us”. It is also true that Dibu rejoined the team very recently.

We will have to wait, then, to see what the DT of Aston Villa decides and to whom he will entrust the goal for Wednesday’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, for the nineteenth date. In the context of a possible transfer, the coach could either give Olsen more minutes of action, replace him immediately, or trust again in the goalkeeper of the Albiceleste team, who starts most of the games this season of the English league.

Qualification to international cups

The first four of the contest will access the Champions League; the fifth will qualify for the Europa League and the sixth, for the play-offs of the new Europa Conference League. For their part, the last three teams will be relegated to the Championship.

Manchester City is the last champion of the Premier League. The ranking of conquests is led by Manchester United, with 20 titles, and followed by Liverpool, with 19; Arsenal, with 13; Everton, with 9, and Aston Villa with 7, the number that the Cityzens also reached with the last trophy.

THE NATION