While talking with Football Daily, Emiliano Martinez opened up about his disastrous career spell with Arsenal.
Emiliano Martinez disclosed that he had lost his love for football during his long stint with Arsenal. However, there was a time when the Argentina and Aston Villa star stood up for himself and made life better.
Most certainly, the 28-year-old has spent a luminous spell at Aston Villa, and his recent Copa America heroics cannot be forgotten. Though, Martinez understands what it means to go through extreme struggle following his undesirable spell with Arsenal.
The Argentine barely played in the first team and spent most of his time out on loan with different clubs. These included Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Getafe, and Reading before joining Villa.
Martinez described his life to Football Daily saying: “I don’t think you prepare for not playing. I always thought I had the talent but at some stage in my career when I was 22, 23 and I wasn’t playing. I went on my first loan to Spain, I played only six games.”
“Then I knew I would have to go back to Arsenal and they wouldn’t give me a chance. So I would have to go on loan, so those years were really difficult. At some point, I stopped loving football.”
“That was something I was worried about. I told my wife, ‘I know I’m not playing but I’ve stopped watching football games.’ So it wasn’t an easy place to be. Then I went on loan again to Reading in the Championship, a league which I didn’t want to be in.”
“I put myself in a position: I have a newborn baby, this is going to be my last loan. I got that in my head, I started with a psychologist that helped me through my bad moment. It helped me to get past my frustrations.”
“Because I always believed I had the talent. I always believed in myself, that I could be one of the best.”