Emiliano Martínez spent transfer deadline day at Aston Villa's training ground waiting for a call regarding a move to Manchester United, but the call never came.
The 32-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper made no secret of his desire to move to Old Trafford this summer; he even contacted his fellow Argentine and Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez, asking him to try to lobby for support for him within United—and the other Martínez did just that.
Emi Martínez also spoke with Rúben Amorim about a potential move in June and July. It is understood that the Manchester United manager believes the World Cup winner's character and experience would benefit his team. These people with knowledge of the matter spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships on both sides.
But formal talks between the two sides only took place after Martínez returned to Birmingham for pre-season training and Villa received a call inquiring about a loan move.
However, the anticipated deal did not make further progress, and on deadline day, United instead agreed to sign Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp.
From a purely financial perspective, Martínez's transfer also appeared highly difficult. Under the contract he signed last summer (which runs until 2029), his earnings already exceed those of André Onana, and Villa were demanding a transfer fee of over £30 million.
As the 7pm GMT Monday deadline approached, Martínez finally left Villa's training ground and flew to Argentina to join Lionel Scaloni's squad, preparing for World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Ecuador.
