Chelsea have been tipped to potentially sign an esteemed member of Aston Villa's starting eleven, with talkSPORT pundit Darren Bent explaining why a Stamford Bridge move could be on the cards for him.
Enzo Maresca "happy" with Chelsea despite 0-0 draw at Everton
Manager Enzo Maresca praised his Chelsea players after their 0-0 draw away to Everton on Sunday, despite the club's imperious winning run coming to an end at Goodison Park against a resolute home side.
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His camp are scouring for a potential winter landing spot.
Chelsea had reigned victorious in eight of their previous eight matches on the spin across all competitions, but the Blues were forced to settle for a point on Merseyside as they dropped points in the Premier League title race.
Maresca's men finished the game with 75 per cent possession, attempting 642 passes to Everton's 209, with Sean Dyche's side shutting up shop right from the off and making life extremely difficult for them going forward.
Chelsea's next Premier League fixtures Date
Fulham (home) December 26
Ipswich Town (away) December 30
Crystal Palace (away) January 4
Bournemouth (home) January 14
Wolverhampton Wanderers (home) January 20
Taking this into account, Chelsea's head coach claimed he was even more pleased with their performance against Everton than he was during their 2-1 win at home to Brentford the weekend prior.
"I'm absolutely happy," said Maresca on Chelsea's stalemate at Everton.
"Just said to the players that I am more happy today than the Brentford game. The reason why is because I was quite worried about today's game; a tricky game, a tricky stadium, a tricky team.
"They are defensively top. They are one of the five best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets. You struggle to create chances against them and it was not an easy game. You have to deal and you have to learn to play different games; long balls, second balls, set-pieces. Football is not just what we do on the ball, it is also how you defend and deal with that.
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"Like I said, more happy today than the Brentford game. For sure, prepared the game like always to try and win the game but sometimes there is also another team there that tries to do the same, so we are happy today."
Current goalkeeping number one Robert Sanchez had very little to do in the Chelsea net, with Maresca's backlog of shot-stoppers in Filip Jorgensen, Marcus Bettinelli and Lucas Bergstrom all forced to watch on from the sidelines in wait of their own opportunities.
Darren Bent shares why Chelsea could sign Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez
The club have a lot of options at their disposal in this regard, with £150,000-per-week outcast Kepa Arrizabalaga also on loan at Bournemouth right now.
Surely, Chelsea's last gaping need isn't another body in that area, but talkSPORT's Bent has suggested that Chelsea could try to sign Aston Villa star Emiliano Martinez.
The £150,000-per-week Argentine, who helped his country to a 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar, recently put pen to paper on a new deal - but Bent believes that a new landing spot in Chelsea is entirely possible for Martinez.
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"I wonder if Aston Villa don’t get back in the Champions League," Bent told talkSPORT (via The Metro).
"I know he signed a new contract, but could he go? The fact is he could play for almost any team he wanted to. Chelsea could get him."
The 32-year-old is a pivotal player for Unai Emery and a leader in the Villa dressing room, so the club are extremely unlikely to let him go on the cheap, especially in light of his contract extension.
"He’s played a huge part in getting Villa back into Europe," said former Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
"I really do like him, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s great with the ball, he’s got everything, honestly. I love how commanding he is in his box – he’s aggressive when he needs to be aggressive."