Aston Villa are turning into a fire sale in slow motion, and Chelsea are circling the smoke.
Emiliano Martínez has told Villa he wants out. A move to Juventus fell apart last week — despite Villa having already brought in Zion Suzuki from Parma for £30m as his replacement — and now Chelsea have been offered the Argentine and are genuinely considering it. Talks with Martínez's camp are under way.
The goalkeeper problem Chelsea can't ignore
Let's be straight: Chelsea's goalkeeping situation has been a mess for a while. Robert Sánchez is nominally the No 1, but in Monday's win over Fulham, two of his errors led to goals. Xabi Alonso still started him. That tells you something — just not anything encouraging. Mike Penders, 21, is the plan for the future, but that future isn't right now.
So when a 33-year-old World Cup winner — who also reached the 2026 final, lifted the Europa League with Villa last season and won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2020 — lands on your desk as an option, you don't bin the email. Martínez wasn't even in Villa's squad for their opening-weekend hammering at Brighton. Marco Bizot started, Suzuki sat on the bench. Villa have already moved on. It's Chelsea's call now.
The deal makes sense for both clubs, and both clubs know it.
Villa's summer unravelling
Meanwhile, the Martínez situation is only half the story at Villa Park. Nicolas Jackson is joining the club in a £65m deal from Chelsea — yes, the same Chelsea weighing up a move for their goalkeeper. Ollie Watkins, who scored in double figures in each of his six Premier League seasons after joining from Brentford for £28m back in 2020, is nearing a £50m exit to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. Villa offered him a new contract. He trained away from the first team while talks intensified. He's going.
Jackson spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich and has history with Villa manager Unai Emery — they worked together at Villarreal, and Jackson himself has said of Emery: "Unai taught me everything about football." There's a logic to the signing. Villa will also need him to produce, because by the time this window closes, six of the XI that won the Europa League in May could be gone.
As for the Enzo Fernández situation — City are expected to make a bid before Tuesday night's deadline, which would force Chelsea into the market for a replacement at short notice. Chelsea had previously told City to pay £120m by 14 August or move on. City didn't. Fernández is still a priority for Enzo Maresca, who managed him at Chelsea. Alonso played Reece James and Roméo Lavia in central midfield at Fulham, introducing Fernández from the bench. City, for their part, have already bought [Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for £85.7m](/getohedz/football/ayyoub-bouaddi-maths-student-chess-fan-and-manchester-citys-new) and sold Nico González to Newcastle for £52m this week.
Our take
Chelsea bringing in Martínez isn't glamour business — it's pragmatic problem-solving. If Sánchez keeps gifting goals and Penders isn't ready, you don't wait around on principle. Martínez is battle-hardened, decorated, and available. Villa are already rebuilding around him being gone. The only real question is whether Chelsea move quickly enough — because this window closes Tuesday night and their to-do list keeps getting longer.