James: Arsenal's decision to sell Martinez was a mistake

The goalkeeper was released to Aston Villa in 2020 for a modest £17 million, as he was not the preferred choice at the time.

On the 'Seaman Says' podcast, James said: "It's interesting when you look at Premier League goalkeepers over a number of years now, there's not many characters.

"Prior to that there were more characters for whatever reason. He has character, everything about him is character, he's a big-game player. He wants to be in the biggest games. 

“When you look at the Raya and Ramsdale situation at Arsenal and obviously Martinez was allowed to go because of Bernd Leno, who's a decent goalkeeper."

The former England international added: "But I think Martinez would have been the perfect goalkeeper for Arsenal right now. I think he's a monster. 

“Weirdly there's not a lot of goalkeepers in the Premier League these days who are capable of getting to the top corner."