Chelsea\u2019s goalkeeping picture has shifted quickly in the opening days of the season. In early August, Xabi Alonso was publicly comfortable with the options available to him, and before the club\u2019s preseason meeting with AC Milan on Aug. 8 he said he was \u201cvery happy with Rob.\u201d He added of Robert S\u00e1nchez: \u201cHe has played many years at the club, as well as in the Premier League, and has experience. To have this security in goal is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
That assurance now looks far less secure. S\u00e1nchez was at fault for both goals in Monday night\u2019s Premier League opener at Craven Cottage, and Alonso declined to single him out, saying: \u201cIt is not about talking about individuals.\u201d It was another reminder that S\u00e1nchez has repeatedly moved in and out of the starting role, even after outlasting Filip J\u00f6rgensen as last season\u2019s main competition.<\/p>\n
According to The Guardian, Chelsea are now in contact with Emiliano Mart\u00ednez through his representatives. The goalkeeper is said to have caught the club\u2019s interest, with the possibility viewed as \u201ctoo good an opportunity to turn down.\u201d Reports suggested Mart\u00ednez\u2019s camp had approached Chelsea after the Fulham match, offering his availability.<\/p>\n
His situation has been building for some time. With Aston Villa since 2020, Mart\u00ednez had already said farewell to supporters at the end of 2024-25 before staying when no move was completed. This summer, Villa brought in Zion Suzuki from Parma as their new long-term No. 1, while Juventus also moved for Suzuki and Mart\u00ednez before taking Guglielmo Vicario from Tottenham Hotspur. Mart\u00ednez was then left out of Villa\u2019s Premier League opener against Brighton & Hove Albion.<\/p>\n
For Chelsea, the attraction is obvious. Mart\u00ednez is proven in the Premier League and Champions League, is a World Cup Golden Glove winner, a two-time Best FIFA Men\u2019s Goalkeeper and recorded the 2024-25 Premier League Save of the Season.<\/p>\n
Chelsea also have 21-year-old Mike Penders in the squad after sending him to Strasbourg in 2025-26, but the current pressure makes a young option difficult to trust. Mart\u00ednez may not be the long-term answer, yet he could steady the position until Penders is ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea are weighing Emiliano Mart\u00ednez as S\u00e1nchez\u2019s costly opener exposes a familiar problem in goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,190,172],"tags":[1836,182],"class_list":["post-18787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aston-villa","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}