Jacque Talbot
Enzo Maresca, Chelsea
© IMAGO
Chelsea's goalkeeping department is in need of an upgrade and now the Premier League club are being linked to a fresh name.
The Blues currently have Robert Sanchez, but there is a feeling that he may need to be upgraded.
One name that Darren Bent has suggested is Aston Villa's Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine World Cup winner.
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Martinez has kept 60 clean sheets in 181 appearances for Villa, while he has conceded 222 goals. He moved from Arsenal in 2020 and has performed as one of the world's best goalkeepers ever since.
And Bent, speaking on TalkSport, believes that Martinez would do better at a new club. He said: “I wonder if they don’t get the Champions League, I know he signed a new contract, but could he go? He could play for any team he wanted to, Chelsea could get him.”
Emiliano Martínez
© IMAGO - Emiliano Martínez
Chelsea’s new transfer policy
It comes after the news that Chelsea have reportedly launched a new transfer policy following the recent sales of academy graduates Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher.
They have spent an incredible €1 billion on new signings since Roman Abramovich was replaced by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly in 2022.
Several stars from the club’s Cobham academy have been offloaded in order to generate ‘pure profit’ from an FFP standpoint and Chelsea have now made a new policy in order to tie their young stars down to long-term deals.
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According to The Athletic, Chelsea have decided that any first-team or academy player (aged 18 or older) with less than two years remaining on their contract must reach an extension agreement or risk being sold.
The Blues reportedly don’t want to be “disrupted” by stars who are close to leaving the club on a Bosman deal, while they are eager to avoid similar situations to the ones that saw the aforementioned Mount and Gallagher depart Stamford Bridge.
Conor Gallagher
© IMAGO - Conor Gallagher
The pair were sold, to the annoyance of Chelsea fans, when they both had just 12 months left on their contracts in west London.
The Blues held discussions with both players over an extension, but deals couldn’t be finalised and Chelsea were forced to sell. The club’s hierarchy are eager to avoid a similar scenario happening again.
It sounds quite ruthless but Chelsea have set their stool out early - they have a clear version of what they expect their recruitment to be like and have not wavered from this.