Former Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey has urged the club to hold onto both Morgan Rogers and Emi Martinez during the upcoming summer transfer window. Both players face uncertain futures, with Juventus reportedly interested in Martinez and Rogers attracting attention from several clubs, including Arsenal.
There is currently no agreement between Villa and Juventus for Martinez, which could prove a stumbling block as the clubs are apart in their valuations. Heskey believes it would be a risk to sell the Argentine number one, despite him being one of the club's highest earners.
“When you've got good players, you're going to have noise. It's how you manage that noise,” Heskey told LiveFootballTickets. “He's a fantastic goalkeeper. I'm guessing he's a character to have around the changing rooms, so it'd be interesting to see if they actually buckle and say, just go. But I would keep him because where'd you go from there? Goalkeepers can be about 10 extra points per season for a club, especially at the top end of the table, and he's one of the best out there.”
Heskey then questioned whether Villa want to build on their Europa League success when discussing the decision to keep or sell Rogers. “I don't know with Villa, are you a selling club, or are you a club that wants to try and push for titles and win things? If you're a selling club, this is probably the best time to sell Rogers,” he said. “But if you're not and you're wanting to push for titles, you can't be selling your best player. You can't be selling the player that is creative, you can't be selling a player that is putting in the work rate that he has. So it all depends on what Villa want to be, and I think they're wanting to try and push to crack into that top four and try and win titles.”
“The PSR is going to be the challenge for them to balance all the books in that sense. But they've got a fantastic player in Morgan Rogers who they've actually helped to get to where he is. So you would like to think there would be a little bit of loyalty in that sense, but it's all down to Villa, and who are they? What are they? Are they a selling club or are they a club that's wanting to crack into that top four and win stuff.”
