Juventus are in talks over Dibu Martinez despite his fractured finger: will he need surgery?
Juventus are in talks for the Argentine goalkeeper despite concerns over his physical condition
With the other options gone, and with Aston Villa moving to sign Zion Suzuki from Parma, Juventus have now turned their focus firmly back to Emiliano Martinez (READ HERE).
There are, however, doubts over the Argentina international goalkeeper's physical condition, particularly the finger the shot-stopper broke in the warm-up before the Europa League final against Freiburg. Dibu then played in and won that match, and later chose not to undergo surgery so he would not risk missing the World Cup. He managed the problem throughout the entire World Cup, but it has now resurfaced: what is Martinez's physical condition, given that he missed Villa's first official match of the season (the Super Cup final lost to PSG)?
Will he have to undergo surgery?
In England, the Daily Mail writes: "Juventus are ready to take a gamble on Emiliano Martinez despite concerns over a finger injury". In Italy, Nicolò Schira tweets: "Quite apart from the financial agreement still to be reached with Aston Villa, Juventus first want to properly understand the condition of the Argentine goalkeeper, who has a broken finger and could undergo surgery. In that case he would be out for three months".
The injury and the World Cup
Martinez last spoke about his condition on 18 July, on the eve of the World Cup final that Argentina later lost to Spain: "My hand still hurts, every day. All the hand specialists I consulted told me I should have had surgery. But now I am not thinking about it any more. If I had undergone surgery, I would not have played at the World Cup and so I had problems. At first I could not train with my team-mates, but after the match against Egypt I started training normally again and, honestly, I feel much better."
The Europa League final
In May, after winning the Europa League final, the goalkeeper said: "I broke a finger during the warm-up. It had never happened to me before, but I didn't see it as a negative thing. Every time I tried to catch the ball, the finger slipped to the other side. But these are things you have to deal with: all bad things lead to something positive. I used all my experience and I am proud to have defended Aston Villa's goal".
