“I hold Mikel Arteta responsible for his departure; it’s his mistake. He sold the player for only £20 million, and now he has even outperformed Jude Bellingham in the Avalon d’Or rankings,” criticized Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, expressing his discontent with Arteta for allowing the ‘fantastic’ Arsenal player to leave the club carelessly.

“I hold Mikel Arteta responsible for his departure; it’s his mistake. He sold the player for only £20 million, and now he has even outperformed Jude Bellingham in the Avalon d’Or rankings,” criticized Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, expressing his discontent with Arteta for allowing the ‘fantastic’ Arsenal player to leave the club carelessly.

‘Arsenal’s sold player for £20 million, now surpasses Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane in the Ballon d’Or rankings. Emiliano Martinez, who departed from Arsenal three years ago, took the spotlight at last night’s ceremony.’

Mikel Arteta has reaffirmed Arsenal’s rationale for selling Emiliano Martinez during the summer. The Gunners will face their former goalkeeper for the first time since his departure when they host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

Martinez had a decade-long association with Arsenal, going through six loan spells before finally getting an extended run in the first team last season due to an injury to regular goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Despite Martinez’s impressive performances and contribution to winning the 14th FA Cup title, Arsenal allowed him to join Villa for £17 million in September, with Arteta favoring the fit-again Leno as the first-choice goalkeeper.

Arteta explained, “He had a career of 10 years here. It wasn’t just the last six or eight months. You have to look at everything he did through his time at the club. Obviously, it wasn’t in my plans to sell him, but we gave him the chance because he deserved it. He performed really well, but we have to balance the books. We have to make the right choices in the market, and obviously, I couldn’t guarantee him to be the number one.”

He acknowledged Martinez’s ambition, stating, “He’s a very ambitious person; he has been working really hard, and he can see now that the opportunity is there. He’s got the opportunity to play with Argentina, and when a player asks you to do that, I think you have to be open enough and tell him what you think about him.”

“If he chooses to depart, it’s important to extend support as he deserves it for the contributions he has made to the club throughout the years.”