Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has been identified by Tottenham Hotspur as a possible replacement for Hugo Lloris, according to The Independent. 

The lowdown

Villa paid £17million to sign Martinez from Arsenal in September 2020, and he's since gone on to make 46 appearances for the club, keeping 17 clean sheets.

Last season, only Manchester City's Ederson and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy recorded more Premier League shut-outs.

What's more, when you go by post-shot xG, only Fulham's Alphonse Areola 'prevented' more goals in 2020/21.

Martinez, a Yashin Trophy nominee, has seen his estimated value climb to £31.5million.

The latest

Spurs have been 'sounding out' potential successors to their World Cup-winning captain, and Martinez has 'drawn repeated interest' from managing director Fabio Paratici. Of all the options, he stands out as 'the most enticing and expensive'.

The North London outfit have been speaking to 'insiders' to discern whether a deal is realistic, what kind of fee they'd need to pay and whether Martinez, a former Arsenal man of course, would be interested.

Spurs understand at the outset that any move 'would prove very difficult', and have looked at other targets too.

The verdict

Clearly, Martinez's performance levels have been elite since he joined Villa, and for that reason, they simply must resist Spurs' advances.

They're a Europa Conference League team at this moment in time and their start to the season - 15 points from nine games - suggests they're not on a major upward trajectory as far as being a big upgrade for the player anyway.

Martinez, who's 29, could well attract interest from higher-level outfits too. Indeed, last month, there was a suggestion he was on the shortlist of reigning La Liga champions Atletico Madrid in the event Jan Oblak was sold, a deal which would surely bank both the club a big profit and the player a worthwhile move.

In other news, fans flocked to this Morgan Sanson update.