'Top quality': Darren Bent player Mikel Arteta sold for £17m at Arsenal is now one of the best in the world

Mikel Arteta has made Arsenal a force to be reckoned with since replacing Unai Emery at the helm in 2019.

The Spaniard has won just one trophy – the FA Cup in 2020 – but has transformed the Arsenal squad and made them consistent Premier League title challengers.

With a combination of astute business in the transfer market and working with the players already at his disposal, the Gunners currently boast a talented squad with the right mix of youth and experience.

Arsenal don’t really have too many players who slipped away from their grasp under Arteta, but Emiliano Martinez might fall in that category.

And Darren Bent believes the Argentine is up there with the best goalkeepers in world football at the moment.

Darren Bent showers high praise on Emi Martinez

Bent feels Martinez has shown his class at Aston Villa after waiting patiently on the wings at Arsenal, where he predominantly served as the club’s second or third-choice goalkeeper.

“He was Arsenal for maybe 10 years but didn’t play much football,” Bent said on talkSPORT.

“He won the FA Cup and the Community Shield at Arsenal and it got to a point where he showed how good he was, but we let him go and brought back Bernd Leno.

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“He’s gone from strength to strength at Aston Villa – won the Copa America and the World Cup with Argentina. He’s up there with one of the best goalkeepers in the world, that’s a fact.”

Bent listed out Martinez’s personal accolades for club and country since his move £20m [The Guardian] move to Aston Villa in 2020 and claimed that he’d have no issues if the Argentine is hailed as one of the best in the business.

Bent continued: “In a short space of time, he’s won the Yashin Trophy, the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper award, the FIFA World Cup Golden Glove, Copa America Golden Glove and Copa America Team of the Tournament twice!

“He’s a top-quality goalkeeper, you get no argument for me if people say he’s the best in the Premier League!”

Is Martinez the one that got away for Arsenal?

It’s easy to make judgments with the benefit of hindsight, but Martinez very much feels like someone who slipped through Arteta’s grasp at Arsenal.

He showed in his extended run for Arsenal before his departure that he was more than capable of holding his own for a big club, which earned him a move to Aston Villa.

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Martinez has come into his own at Villa Park and his exploits for Argentina need no introduction, with the enigmatic goalkeeper hailed as a cult figure at the very least in his home country.

Arsenal had Bernd Leno at the time and now employ David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale, but there is a case to be made that Martinez has become a better goalkeeper than each of those three players.

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