Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea MUST sign Emi Martinez from Aston Villa in rival transfer swoop to become genuine title contenders

CHELSEA are a top-level goalkeeper away from challenging for the Premier League title, and there is one they should be targeting. The Blues have spent very well this summer, buying players with Premier League experience who are ready to make the step up to competing for the biggest titles, having shone individually with their former clubs. Robert Sanchez is expected to be first choice under Xabi Alonso Credit: Reuters But the Blues need a top-tier keeper if they’re to challenge for the Premier League title Credit: PA The likes of Maxence Lacroix and Morgan Rogers are the best two examples of players from within the league who could infinitely improve in the right environment and become some of the best in the league in their positions. Look at Joao Pedro, Moises Caicedo, and even Marc Cucurella – Chelsea, when buying from within the Premier League, have a good hit rate of their players becoming top tier. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! Of course, in their goalkeeper – Robert Sanchez – they already tried this once. So what they need to do in goal is not sign someone and hope they will improve, it’s to sign someone who is already world-class. That someone is Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa. I mean, you’ve already taken their most creative player and their set-piece coach – surely Behdad Eghbali could have set up some sort of Buy two get one free deal, no? The dilemma with Sanchez is, that he’s not that bad. He is not bad enough that the club desperately need a new goalkeeper because he is constantly throwing the ball in his own net or making stupid errors and not making saves. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Actually he is a fairly solid Premier League keeper – but fairly solid is not going to win you titles. He is a good shot stopper, who is okay with his feet, and improves drastically when he is playing with confidence, which was personified when Chelsea won the Club World Cup and he genuinely looked like one of the world’s best keepers. So if Xabi Alonso can instill that level of confidence in him again, then maybe Chelsea will back themselves to win the league with him in between the posts. That said, they would certainly back themselves a little more if they had a world-class keeper, who has won the World Cup, the Europa League with Villa, and back-to-back Yashin Trophies with several years of Premier League experience as one of the league’s best stoppers. Not only that, but Martinez just feels so Chelsea – he is the kind of s******** personality that Stamford Bridge would fall in love with. So why are Chelsea not going out and getting him? Martinez would undoubtedly be a hit at Stamford Bridge Credit: Getty Well firstly, as I said, Sanchez is not THAT bad, or bad enough that the club are desperate to replace him, not in the same way that they needed a centre-back or a left-winger. The club are happy with their goalkeeping options, including the supposed next best goalkeeper in the world in Mike Penders. So much so that there is no interest in signing the likes of Diogo Costa from Porto, despite an appreciation of his ability. They did look into the signing of Mike Maignan from AC Milan last summer as a market opportunity, but the deal couldn’t be made and he signed a new contract in Milan. Other keepers that they could look into signing, that would be an improvement on Sanchez, include Borussia Dortmund‘s Gregor Kobel, Spain‘s number one Unai Simon, or Roma‘s Mile Svilar. Maignan and even someone like Jan Oblak from Atletico Madrid could be good options too. It feels though, as if Chelsea will go into this season with Sanchez as the number one and Penders as the number two, with the Belgian at some point being given a chance to stake his claim in the first team early. The Spaniard feels like he has Alonso’s backing this term, and claimed that his countryman’s ‘simplicity’ will benefit him, after sometimes struggling to cope with the complexities of playing the goalkeeper role under Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior. Mike Penders is expected to be the next big thing in terms of goalkeepers Credit: Getty But Chelsea could do with someone experienced to play until Penders is ready to take over Sanchez said on Alonso: “It is the simplification of things. “He is allowing me to do what I am best at. I have already played a lot of games in the Premier League and people know what I am good at or not. “He is allowing me to do what I do best and that means my confidence is going to be boosted and I am going to play better and better. That is what is great about him.” If things are not so simple by January though, Chelsea could be looking to dip into the goalkeeper market mid-season once more. Comment now