London’s Chelsea are actively pursuing a move for Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. The urgent search for a new keeper was triggered by Robert Sanchez’s lacklustre performance in the opening match of the Premier League against Fulham (3-2), where the Spaniard completed just 10 accurate passes from 27 attempts (37%), had a long-pass accuracy of 29%, and ended the game with an expected goals prevented deficit of -0.78. However, a closer look at the statistics reveals that the 33-year-old Argentine might not solve Chelsea's goalkeeping woes but simply restart a familiar cycle of anxiety. Analyst Andrei Dyumin provided numbers highlighting the risks of the deal.
The main concern from fans regarding Sanchez has been not his shot-stopping but his tendency for individual errors. Yet, on the key metric of goalkeeping mistakes leading to goals, Martinez appears even more vulnerable:
- Errors leading to goals: During the 2025/26 Premier League season, Martinez made three glaring mistakes (compared to just one from Sanchez). Overall, in his career across the top flights of England and Spain, the Argentine has committed nine costly errors, while Sanchez has recorded six over his entire Premier League tenure.
Comparison of performance in the 2025/26 Premier League season
| Metric | Robert Sanchez (Chelsea) | Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) |
| Matches | 32 (out of 38) | 35 (out of 38) |
| Saves per match | 2.97 | 2.80 |
| Clean sheets | 7 (13th in Premier League) | 9 (9th in Premier League) |
| Goals conceded (per match) | 1.22 | 1.34 |
| Yellow / Red cards | 2 Y / 0 R (9th for Y cards) | 3 Y / 1 R (5th for Y cards, 1st for R cards) |
| Errors leading to goals | 1 | 3 |
Stylistically, Martinez shares many traits with Sanchez: both goalkeepers tend to engage in risky ball control under pressure, aggressive forays outside the area, and play on the edge of foul territory, oscillating between making spectacular saves and costly blunders. Spending significant financial resources on an older keeper with similar concentration and distribution issues seems a dubious move for Xabi Alonso’s long-term project. Simply swapping one erratic shot-stopper for another would only mask the team's structural flaws.
