Mikel Arteta is ruing coming up against his former goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez on Sunday but says the Aston Villa No1 "deserved" his chance away from Arsenal.
Martinez finally got his moment in the spotlight at the end of last season after a decade of service to Arsenal, playing an instrumental role in their FA Cup success.
The Argentine deputised superbly for the injured Bernd Leno and broke down in tears after the final as Arteta collected his first piece of silverware as a manager.
But despite Martinez's vital contribution, Leno was still Arteta's first choice, forcing his understudy to seek pastures new.
And Arteta says even though he didn't want to lose his dependable back-up, he was willing to help facilitate Martinez's departure in light of such admirable loyalty.
"He had a career of 10 years here. It wasn't just the last six or eight months," Arteta said in a press conference on Friday. "You have to look at everything he did through his time at the club.
"Obviously, it wasn't in my plans to sell him, but we gave him the chance because he deserved it.
"He performed really, really well but we have to balance the books. We have to make the right choices in the market and obviously, I couldn't guarantee him to be the number one.
"He's a very ambitious person, he has been working really hard and he can see now that the opportunity is there."
Martinez was around long enough to help Arteta pick up his second trophy in the Community Shield win over Liverpool, before Arsenal collected a sizeable fee when he completed his switch to Villa Park.
Since then he has been playing regularly in a Villa side who started the season in good form, but head into Sunday's clash level on points with Arsenal following back-to-back defeats.
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Nevertheless, on a personal note Martinez's good run of form has continued, even earning him his first international call-up, which Arteta feels has justified the decision to let him go and further his career.
"He's got the opportunity to play with Argentina and when a player asks you to do that I think you have to be open enough and tell him what you think about him," Arteta added.
"If he makes the decision to leave, you should try to support him because he deserves it for the way he has served the club over the years."
