“I would be surprised” – Premier League star set for Serie A move claims former scout

Emi Martinez is close to leaving Aston Villa, although Juventus are going to have to start really pushing for him.

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Aston Villa are dealing with a busy summer already.

After a good season where they finished in the Champions League places they’ve been raided heavily by rival clubs, losing Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans.

Amadou Onana is also set to miss the bulk of the season with a knee injury. They could yet lose more important players. Emi Martinez is on holiday following defeat in the World Cup final with Argentina, but when he returns there’s the strong feeling that he too will exit the club.

Martinez ready to push for European move

Villa can’t say they weren’t given time to prepare – Martinez looked certain to go last summer too. But this time Juventus are hot on his tail, and GiveMeSport have quotes from former Manchester United scout Mick Brown which make it clear that this is likely the end of the road for the charismatic stopper:

“From what I’m told, I would be surprised if Martinez stayed at Aston Villa,” Brown said.

“It looks like he’s getting closer to that move he’s wanted, especially when you’ve got the Juventus manager coming out and speaking publicly about it… he’s been pretty clear about it since last summer, he wants to leave Aston Villa and move to a top European club, so it looks like he’s going to get his wish.”

There’s still some way for this to go – Juventus need to put an offer on the table, for a start. But everything seems to be moving in the direction of a transfer.

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