Arsene Wenger managed Arsenal for a legendary 22-year spell, but he did make several mistakes in his goalkeeping decisions over the years.
Moving on from Invincibles shot-stopper Jens Lehmann proved to be a difficult task, as funds were tight when trying to replace the underwhelming Manuel Almunia.
Mark Schwarzer was targeted despite his old age during his Fulham days, but a deal could not be completed and Wenger was forced to stick with Almunia until the emergence of Wojciech Szczesny.
Szczesny won the Golden Glove in the 2013-14 season, but a fallout with Wenger saw him dropped and eventually loaned out and sold.
This could have opened up an opportunity for a young goalkeeper to take his place, but Arsenal signed an ageing Petr Cech from Chelsea instead in what proved to be a disastrous decision given the drop-off in his performance levels.
This also meant that young goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez could still not gain an opportunity in the first-team, but Arsenal still made an error at the time.
Emiliano Martinez slams Arsenal goalkeeping decision in 2015
When Szczesny was phased out by Wenger and loaned to AS Roma, Cech was brought into replace him for around £10m.
Emi Martinez has now revealed that at the time, Arsenal turned down a permanent transfer offer for him, loaning him out again in favour of Cech, and he has questioned the decision on the Fozcast.
“So Arsene Wenger, the legend, was standing in front of you, you’re going to be my number one. He was signing me, contract and money wise, like a number two and I was number three,” he stated.
“I remember when I was good and I had a loan from Wolves, Wolves offered £10m to buy me – that was long term and it was big money. I thought, you know, I was thinking about it but they were like ‘no, no stay,’ then they signed Petr Cech – cheers!”
Arsenal’s Emi Martinez mess dates back years
Martinez did appear on several occasions during goalkeeping crisis’ over the years, but was underwhelming for the most part despite impressing out on loan.
He eventually became the second-choice option behind Bernd Leno, before finally impressing after 10 years at the club to win the FA Cup whilst the German was injured.
The mistake Wenger made in 2015-16 was perhaps not to sell him. Martinez continued to embark on loan spells when there was money on the table for him, and he had not shown enough at the time to suggest that he would be better than Cech.
Martinez is now thriving for Aston Villa and Argentina, after years of uncertainty at Arsenal over his loan spells, and perhaps there is regret all around at how things panned out on both sides.