Aston Villa's Emi Martinez reveals transfer talks with Man City star

Emiliano Martinez has revealed that he spoke to Julian Alvarez about a possible transfer to Aston Villa last year.

The 22-year-old has since joined Premier League champions Manchester City, but Villa were reportedly tracking the youngster along with elite clubs across the continent including AC Milan. With 14 goals in 17 appearances across all competitions this season, Alvarez continues to prove his immense talent in his homeland and is set to join City's first-team this July.

He signed a five-and-a-half-year deal at City just months after being linked with a switch to Villa. Reports in Argentina had claimed that Alvarez was of interest to the Premier League club, but an agreement with River Plate could not be met last summer.

Alvarez is currently on international duty with Argentina and Villa goalkeeper Martinez. La Albiceleste's number one has spoken about Alvarez's transfer to City and confirmed he had spoken to the attacker about a potential move to Villa.

"I was hoping he would come to Aston Villa, I talked with him about that before the Copa America," Martinez said. "He is truly a talented player, very humble and hard to work. He will be truly a star. It is difficult to compare him to Aguero, he will have to prove a lot. He is very humble."

Villa spent nearly £100m last summer on attacking talent to fill the void left by Jack Grealish who joined City himself back in August. Emiliano Buendia - who will be competing for a spot in Argentina's World Cup squad - Leon Bailey and Danny Ings were all recruited, while Alvarez stayed in Argentina and then later signed for City in January for just £14m.

City's Director of Football Txiki Begiristain believes Alvarez is a player with significant potential. "Julian is a