'Dibu' Martínez is a Blue! Chelsea unveils Argentine star on a three-year contract

In recent years, there have been several goalkeepers who have swapped the goal at Stamford Bridge for that of the Emirates Stadium. This is the case of Peter Cech and Kepa Arrizabalaga. ‘Dibu’ Martínez , although with the odd ‘bridge’ along the way, has taken the opposite path: he leaves Unai Emery 's Aston Villa and joins the new Chelsea of Xabi Alonso .

The deal, as David Ornstein reported in The Athletic , was completed for a fee that comes in slightly below nine million euros. He also arrives with a contract that guarantees him two years and includes the option to extend it for one more season. " I’m delighted to be here . For me and my family, it was an easy decision."

Last summer, ‘Dibu’ Martínez was already very close to leaving Aston Villa. He even said goodbye to the fans once the final Premier matchday had ended. Manchester United seemed willing to sign him. However, they ended up opting for Lammens… and the Argentine goalkeeper stayed one more season at Villa Park , eventually winning the Europa League.

"Despite still being under contract until 2029, rumors about a possible departure have been constant throughout the summer. On this occasion, it was Juventus who seemed to be in the running following the arrival of Suzuki at PSG . Everything, however, fell apart: the Japanese player was signed by Aston Villa themselves and the ‘Old Lady’ agreed the loan of Vicario with Tottenham .

It was after the Premier League opener against Fulham, where Robert Sánchez's performance left quite a few doubts, that Chelsea began to speed up the deal. Now, however, it remains to be seen what implications this decision will have for the ‘blue’ goalkeeping department. Above all, in relation to Mike Penders, who right now would become the third-choice goalkeeper in the squad... when everything seemed to indicate that he would return from his loan at Strasbourg to be the starter.

"I want to succeed here. I am a person who wants to win in everything he does and I want to bring that to this football club because it is a club that wins titles, so I think it is a good combination. I am pure passion and I play with my heart. I will give 100% in every match, in every training session so that the club, my teammates and the fans feel proud".

“Dibu”, in this way, leaves an Aston Villa that propelled him to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world: a Europa League , two qualifications for the Champions and 80 clean sheets in the 256 matches he has played over these six and a half seasons. He also received the Yashin Award for best goalkeeper of the year in 2023 and 2024.

Aston Villa lose their backbone

With the departure of ‘Dibu’ , the backbone that had strengthened Unai Emery 's successes at Aston Vill a continues to lose personnel: Konsa headed to Arsenal , Tielemans to Manchester United and Morgan Rogers , like the Argentine goalkeeper, to Chelsea . He will not be the last, since Ollie Watkins is finalizing his move to Al Hilal.