Dino Zoff has thrown his weight behind the idea of Juventus moving for Emi Martinez, saying the rumors around the Aston Villa goalkeeper are enough to get him excited. The former Juventus great said the only thing that matters in Turin is the result, not whether a keeper is calm or flamboyant, as long as he stops shots.
That is why Martinez is suddenly back in focus. He was linked with Manchester United for the 2025-26 season, stayed at Aston Villa, and still managed to help them win the Europa League. Now Juventus is being pulled into the same conversation, and Zoff’s public approval gives the link more noise than a routine transfer whisper.
The numbers help explain the interest. Since joining Aston Villa from Arsenal before the 2020-21 season, Martinez has kept 60 Premier League clean sheets, made 625 saves and saved five penalties. Only Ederson, Alisson, David Raya and Jordan Pickford have kept more clean sheets in the league over that span. For a goalkeeper now 33 years old, that record is the kind of evidence clubs and supporters notice immediately.
Zoff also made the case in football terms rather than personality terms. He told Tuttosport that a goalkeeper’s character does not matter if he can do the job, and said Martinez has already shown that he can perform in the Premier League and with his national team. That line matters because it moves the discussion away from reputation and toward output, which is where Juventus would have to make its judgment.
There is still a hard edge to the story. Martinez is under contract with Aston Villa until June 2029, so any move would require more than admiration from afar. Juventus already has its own goalkeeping picture to weigh, with Michele Di Gregorio starting this season and keeping 13 clean sheets in 30 Serie A matches, while Mattia Perin played nine league matches. The club does not need a symbolic signing; it would need a practical reason to disrupt that order.
That is where the rumor remains open. Zoff has made clear he likes the player, and Martinez has the sort of record that can keep a transfer story alive for weeks. Whether Juventus turns that into a formal move is the next test, and until that happens the Argentine’s name will sit between interest and intent, exactly where summer goalkeeping stories tend to live.
