Arsenal: Emi Martinez isn’t wrong, but he isn’t right either

Arsenal reserve keeper Emi Martinez has higher goals for himself, and believes he can become the No. 1. But while he isn’t wrong… he isn’t right either.

Emi Martinez has spent a decade at Arsenal under the belief that he can become the No. 1 keeper at his long-time club. It’s the same goal that Wojciech Szczesny reiterated throughout his time at the club, with the same background, and he ended up moving on in order to become the No. 1 somewhere else, and becoming one of the best keepers in the world in the process.

Martinez pointed out that he believes he can be the No. 1 at the club because he has the ability to do so, and you have to admire that mentality. It was mentioned in the summer that if he wasn’t given a chance, he would leave the club.

Unai Emery gave him that chance.

But what Emi Martinez said isn’t necessarily right… nor is it wrong. It hangs in the middle ground. I do agree that he has more ability than he’s ever been given credit for. He’s proven to be a quality keeper with a lot of upside.

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His opportunity was all that was missing. Now 27-years-old, which is still young for a keeper, he has to utilize his time in midweek competitions to prove that he is better than Bernd Leno is doing in the Premier League.

And that’s the part where Martinez is wrong. It will never be up to him and his ability whether he takes the No. 1 job or not. It will be up to sheer luck.

Leno wouldn’t even have become the No. 1 keeper as quickly as he did if it wasn’t for Petr Cech getting injured and Leno getting the job from there. He probably would have had to wait until Cech’s retirement to snag the role.

Leno is not a mistake-heavy keeper. In fact, it almost never happens. When it does, he makes up for it quickly. It’s not easy, or likely to replace a keeper like Leno, who doesn’t have an implosion likelihood.

To make matters more difficult, Martinez is the same age as Leno. So he can’t just wait him out. Meaning his only hopes are if Leno is improbably sold, or if he gets hurt, and even if he does get hurt, it would be immensely unfair not to give Leno the starting job back on his return.

Martinez is good enough. He just needs the chance to prove that. But it’s not up to him when/if he gets that chance.