Chelsea have agreed a £7.5m deal to sign the Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and are expecting Manchester City to make an offer for Enzo Fernández in the next 48 hours.
Xabi Alonso identified the signing of a goalkeeper as a priority after Robert Sánchez struggled against Fulham last Monday and the deal for Martínez has gone through quickly. The Argentina international is out of favour at Villa after their acquisition of Zion Suzuki and is due to sign a two-year contract with the option of a further year.
The signing of Martínez, who will be 34 next week, will raise questions over the future of Sánchez. Sources believe the Spaniard is unlikely to accept losing his spot as No 1 and may need to be moved on before the window shuts on Tuesday night.
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It is unclear whether there is an obvious club for Sánchez to join and another complication for Chelsea will be working out what to do with Mike Penders, who was expected to challenge for the No1 shirt this season. There is a feeling that Penders could leave on loan. The highly rated 21-year-old Belgian spent last season on loan at Strasbourg.
It is poised to be a busy end to the summer for Chelsea, who are also dealing with City’s attempts to sign Fernández. The Argentina midfielder is desperate to leave and was left out of the side for Thursday night’s Carabao Cup tie against Luton.
Sources at Chelsea insist a deal is not close and that there has yet to be any communication from City. Chelsea are adamant that Fernández will be sold only on their terms. City missed an unofficial deadline to sign the midfielder for £120m this month and there have been suggestions the price could be higher because the end of the window is approaching.
Chelsea also need to be able to strengthen their squad but have little time to act. They are aware Bournemouth do not want to sell Alex Scott and that Crystal Palace are similarly determined to hold on to Adam Wharton. Chelsea may not look for a direct replacement for Fernández but will not accept weakening their squad by helping out a rival.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, have signed the Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka on a free after his departure from Bayern Munich. The 31-year-old spent eight seasons at Bayern, making 312 appearances, and has played 73 times for his country.
“I had a bit of long vacation, and it was a process to find out what I really wanted. From the first moment, I had a really good feeling, and I’m really happy to be here,” Goretzka said after completing the move.
“I had a good feeling from the first conversation with the coach. Aston Villa is a really big club. I want to help the team to achieve their goals and to bring my experience that I have from my whole career.”
“I’m really looking forward to playing in these kinds of big games every few days,” he added. “This is probably the biggest difference to the Bundesliga, where you have only several great games with big opponents.”