Martinez to Chelsea: A no-brainer for Alonso as Villa bid farewell to legend

Martinez to Chelsea: A no-brainer for Alonso as Aston Villa bid farewell to a legend Make us your Google favourite Having come close to leaving in the past, Emiliano Martinez is finally about to bring down the curtain on his Aston Villa career. The goalkeeper, 33, is set to join for €8.75million (£7.5m), bringing an end to his six-year association with Unai Emery’s Villans . After losing his place in the Villa team to Zion Suzuki, Martinez offered his services to Chelsea - a proposal the Blues felt was too good to turn down. Here, sources takes a look at what Chelsea, Villa and Martinez stand to gain from the move as it nears completion. Chelsea - a no-brainer for Xabi Alonso? For all the positivity surrounding Chelsea at the moment, the win at Fulham on Monday was a reminder of how much they need a goalkeeper. A problem position for the last few years, Robert Sanchez blotted his copybook once again by making two mistakes at Craven Cottage. Fulham have equalised against Chelsea thanks to Josh King's low strike 💥 pic.twitter.com/WCLKB7XqeE — media Premier League (@broadcasterSportsPL) August 24, 2026 And that has led to Chelsea pouncing on the opportunity to land Martinez, continuing their strategy of signing older, experienced players this summer. When analysing the Premier League stats from last season, it is easy to understand why Chelsea answered the call from Martinez. The Argentina international had a better save percentage (70.9%, second highest) compared to Sanchez (67.6%, 10th best), while he also prevented 3.3 goals (third best) compared to 1.7 (sixth best) by Sanchez. insider sources’s Liam Twomey also highlighted how Sanchez has made seven errors leading to goals since 2023-24, while Martinez has produced six despite playing 20 more games than his Spanish counterpart. And when you factor in the low cost and the massive presence that Martinez carries, his signing is a no-brainer for Chelsea and manager Xabi Alonso. Aston Villa - a fond farewell to a legend Martinez will leave Villa Park as a modern-day legend - the shot-stopper having been synonymous with the club’s rise in recent seasons. Signed from Arsenal in September 2020, he has helped take Villa from the bottom of the Premier League to two qualifications for the Champions League and Europa League glory. And it goes both ways, for Villa have offered Martinez the platform to become No. 1 for Argentina, with whom he won the World Cup at Qatar 2022. Villa fans will have already processed the idea of Martinez leaving, owing to his teary farewell at the start of last season, only for him to end up staying after Manchester United opted to sign Senne Lammens instead. And Emery’s men appear to be in safe hands after the summer signing of highly-rated Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki from Parma. But in a summer which has brought the sales of several of their Europa League heroes, from Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Ezri Konsa to Lucas Digne and very possibly Ollie Watkins too, Martinez’s departure comes at a difficult time for Villa. However, they are a tough club who have come through worse times - namely relegation from the Premier League in 2015-16 - and so you would be a fool to write them off just yet. Especially when they still have Emery, one of the best managers in the world, at the helm, with the Spaniard having kept Sevilla competitive despite regularly losing his best players between 2013 and 2016.