Unai Emery tells Emi Martinez: Now fire Aston Villa up!
Unai Emery wants Emi Martinez to use his experience of winning the World Cup to help Villa end their long trophy drought.
Martinez is returning to the club a star of world football after helping Argentina to glory at Qatar 2022.
Emery set out the goal of winning a trophy and taking Villa back into Europe when he replaced Steven Gerrard two months ago and believes having a player who has won the biggest tournament of all in the dressing room can only help his cause.
He said: “We don’t have a lot of players with experiences winning a lot of trophies and titles – those big moments.
“I think Emiliano can – and must – use these experiences to help us here and be positive.
“Hopefully we will eventually win some trophies here and get closer to our target to be in Europe with Aston Villa.
“When you have players with those experiences winning a lot they can help you better on the pitch and in the dressing room.
“I like players to open up and share their experiences with one another. Now we can use Emiliano to do that here.”
