Aston Villa have identified Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen as one of their leading options to replace Emiliano Martinez this summer, with the club already mapping out life without the Argentina international if he moves on.
The search is gathering pace because Martinez continues to draw interest from clubs across Europe and the Middle East, and Villa want a plan ready if a suitable offer arrives. Verbruggen, 23, fits that brief. He has 105 appearances for Brighton in all competitions, 95 of them in the Premier League, and has quickly become one of the more closely watched young goalkeepers in England.
He joined Brighton from Anderlecht in 2023 and has since added 27 caps for the Netherlands, a rise that has only increased his profile. He is also expected to be the Netherlands’ first-choice goalkeeper at this summer’s World Cup, adding to the sense that Villa are looking at a player arriving at a major career point rather than a long-term project.
Martinez is in a different part of the story. He has been named in Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina squad for this summer’s tournament and remains the keeper Villa have trusted through their recent progress. He won the 2022 Golden Glove when Argentina beat France on penalties to retain their world crown four years ago, which is part of why his future still carries so much weight at Villa Park.
Brighton, though, are in no mood to make this straightforward. Verbruggen is tied to the club until 2028, and that gives them a strong position if Villa decide to turn interest into an approach. The Dutchman’s standing is not limited to Brighton either, with Manchester United and Liverpool also understood to be monitoring him.
There is also a wider view of his reputation in the game. More than 80 per cent of respondents in a survey of football figures placed Verbruggen in the highest tier of young goalkeeping talent, a sign of how highly he is rated beyond the transfer market noise.
Villa have their target, but the next step is the one that matters. Whether they make an actual offer for Verbruggen and whether Brighton are willing to sell will decide if this becomes a genuine transfer chase or simply the first sign of a bigger summer rethink.
