Unai Emery has ongoing ‘rift’ with Aston Villa star as transfer ‘interest’ revealed

All the latest Aston Villa news ahead of this weekend’s Premier League clash with Everton.
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Aston Villa will be looking to pick themselves up this week after a difficult weekend of last.

Unai Emery’s men put on a brave performance against leaders Arsenal last weekend, but they ultimately fell to a stoppage time own goal from Emiliano Martinez. Still, there has been plenty of progress for Villa under Emery, and the Lions still have a good opportunity to secure a top-half finish this season, despite a disappointing start to the campaign.

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In the meantime, and as Villa prepare to take on Everton this weekend, we have rounded up all the latest news surrounding Villa Park.

Emery and Martinez clash

After Martinez went up for a corner during the defeat to Arsenal, giving the Gunners the chance to score a fourth on the counter-attack, Emery publicly criticised his goalkeeper.

According to Football Insider, the criticism is part of a serious rift between Emery and Martinez, with there being a ‘deep-rooted clash of personalities’. It emerged in winter that Emery might not be a fan of Martinez after the criticism the latter received for his antics at the World Cup.

One source is said to have said that Emery and Martinez fell out during their time at Arsenal, a fall-out that has not got any better at Villa Park.

Vitoria star interest

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Vitoria president Antonio Miguel Cardoso has revealed Villa’s interest in an unnamed player at his club.

“There were preliminary talks between V Sports and the previous management, but they were on hold as I became president in March of last year. No contact was made then due to a series of developments that were not positive,” said Cardoso, as detailed by BirminghamLive.

“We started talking again because of Aston Villa’s interest in a Vitória player. I met with Mr Sawiris a few times and we found points in common, not least because V Sports already had an interest in Vitória. They realised that our management consisted a lot of doing more with less, reducing budgets, having young assets, and selling players to face the club’s budget deficit.”

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