Aston Villa open to letting Emi Martinez go if it means Ezri Konsa doesn’t fall to Arsenal or Liverpool | OneFootball

Aston Villa are reportedly ‘willing to lose’ one of their best assets in order to keep Ezri Konsa at the club, amid interest from Arsenal and Liverpool.

Villa have a number of stars who are frequently linked with big clubs. Emi Martinez is rumoured to be on the radar at a least a few clubs every window, as is Ollie Watkins, while Morgan Rogers has already left this summer, in a £117million deal to Chelsea.

Konsa is the latest man to pique the interest of a big club, with Arsenal and Liverpool – both having seen centre-back injuries occur of late – looking into his signing.

To stop the England international from leaving, Villa could sacrifice Martinez.

Football Insider reports they are ‘willing to lose’ the superstar goalkeeper in order to keep Konsa, as they know one of the stars is probably going to depart this summer.

Martinez has been on the radar of Juventus this summer, but it’s suggested a move to the Saudi Pro League is likeliest.

The report also highlights interest from Arsenal in Konsa, with contact known to have been made for his transfer.

Liverpool could win for Konsa

But it’s recently been suggested that Liverpool could take the lead in the pursuit for the defender. Villa’s demands for him are known to be £60million, and Arsenal are refusing to pay that.

If they don’t, they simply won’t be landing their target.

As a result, if Liverpool are willing to stretch to that fee, they’d immediately become the frontrunners.

But it seems there’s a chance that if somebody starts to make real progress on a deal for Konsa, Villa would shut up shop and ship Martinez out, receiving a decent sum for his transfer and telling interested clubs that it would then take an even higher fee for their defender to be signed.

It’s not clear what Konsa’s views are over an exit from Villa, for whom he’s played since 2019, but Martinez’s are evident.

Despite speculation over his exit during the summer, the goalkeeper’s agent, Gustano Goñi, has told Sky Sports that he doesn’t want to leave.

The information was relayed by Lyall Thomas, who stated Goñi said Martinez is happy at Villa, has not asked to leave and is looking forward to the season and the impending Champions League campaign.