Martinez Missing In Villa Squad Amid Man Utd Interest

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was not included in Aston Villa’s squad for their game against Aston Villa amid interest from Manchester United.

United were considering making a move for the 32-year-old Argentina keeper.

Palace defender Marc Guehi, meanwhile, who Liverpool have bidded £35m for, was named in his side’s starting line-up.

United have been looking to address their goalkeeping issues and have been negotiating with Royal Antwerp about their highly rated 23-year-old Belgian Senne Lammens.

Lammens is keen to join United and has been left out of Antwerp’s past two games. It is known that the Belgian Pro League club needed to make a sizeable sale so they can meet an external loan they have previously taken out.

However, he lacks high-level experience, while Martinez is a World Cup winner with Argentina and a two-time Fifa goalkeeper of the year with 197 Premier League appearances under his belt.

After Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Burnley, United head coach Ruben Amorim admitted: “I think it is hard to be a Manchester United goalkeeper in this moment.”

Current keepers Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana have each made mistakes already this season. Bayindir’s latest blunder would have cost United victory against Burnley had it not been for Bruno Fernandes’ injury-time penalty.

Turkish side Galatasaray are interested in Lammens but could also move for Bayindir or Onana, should United decide the Belgium youth international is their preferred option.

It is being stressed by United sources they will only sign one goalkeeper at most before the window closes at on Monday.

They did inquire about taking 32-year-old Martinez on loan at the start of the summer but Villa told them they were not interested.

Martinez appeared to say farewell to the club’s supporters at the end of last season but he featured in last week’s defeat at Brentford.