Martinez to Juventus Talks Off – What’s Next?
Emiliano Martínez will not be joining Juventus this summer. That’s the third time MOMS has heard that this summer, but apparently talks between the clubs are finally over, with Juventus now understood to be turning their attention to Tottenham’s Guglielmo Vicario instead. According to The Athletic, Villa are prepared to help Martínez find a move elsewhere if one materialises before the window shuts, as they look to lock down the transfer of Zion Suzuki.
This is the second transfer window in a row Martínez has been seriously linked with an exit. Manchester United came for him last summer in a move that fizzled away in the final days of the window. Juventus have tried to be clever and get a cut price deal, but ultimately have ended up as time wasters in Villa’s eyes.
That kind of recurring interest, from two different clubs across two windows, isn’t just noise. There’s no smoke without fire, and it points to Villa being genuinely open to selling their goalkeeper if the number is right, with the player also looking to move on.
The Suzuki Clarity
The Suzuki deal looks like the moment that has actually crystallised things. Once Zion Suzuki became a realistic option, Villa moved on him fast, and it’s hard not to read that as Villa using his availability to reopen the Martínez question rather than the other way around.
Juventus’s final offer, despite reportedly closing the gap on Villa’s valuation, still fell short, and Juventus are said to have played hardball rather than closing it further. It wasn’t personal terms holding things up either. Martínez and Juventus are understood to have already agreed those, which raises its own question: having committed to his wage demands, the Old Lady may simply have decided there wasn’t room left to also meet Villa’s number on the fee.
If Villa intend to still move Martínez on, it’s going to be far from routine. He played through the Europa League final with a broken finger, an injury that doesn’t seem to have been fully resolved yet, with him deciding not to have surgery prior to the World Cup. His wages sit among the highest at Villa Park too, a cost that doesn’t simply disappear because a fee has been agreed.
That leaves Martínez exactly in no man’s land. Villa have a keeper lined up who is widely expected to be their long-term No. 1. It’s an uncomfortable place for a player who was Argentina’s main man in this summer’s World Cup final and was first choice for a fourth-placed, Europa League-winning Villa side barely three months ago.
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Life at Villa Yet?
If a buyer for Martinez can’t be found, it needn’t be the worst outcome for all parties concerned though. Martínez has been here before, after the United links last summer, and simply carried on being one of the best goalkeepers in the league regardless. If he knuckles down and treats this as healthy competition rather than a demotion, with Champions League football to play for, it is not a disaster. It only becomes one if he lets the situation curdle.
Suzuki himself is still only 23, turning 24 later this week, and is still establishing himself. When he was originally heading to Paris Saint-Germain from Parma, he wasn’t guaranteed the No. 1 shirt over Matvey Safonov. There was, however, an expectation to be number one the following season, which was one of the factors that led to the breakdown of that transfer.
It’s a reminder that Villa’s move for a younger goalkeeper wasn’t the arrival of a finished article gunning to displace a proven one; instead, if Martínez does stay, even if it’s just till January, his mentorship could aid Suzuki in his Villa journey and take away the element of risk for Villa of just throwing him straight into a high-stakes season.
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