Chelsea goalkeeper Emi Martinez has revealed that the broken finger he refused to have operated on so he could play at the World Cup will never return to normal — a tournament he played diving "like a zombie", seeing stars every time he put his hand down and crying every night in pain.
The 34-year-old Argentina international is currently out with a fractured jaw, but in a YouTube interview with journalist Gaston Edul he has now laid bare the far worse injury he carried through the summer — and admitted the decision that saved his World Cup has left permanent damage, with the bone left out of place and surgery still waiting for him one day.
A finger broken on the night of a European final
Martinez broke the finger in the warm-up before Aston Villa's Europa League final against Freiburg in May. He played the whole of Villa's 3-0 win, but when the doctor showed him the X-ray afterwards, he broke down.
"I broke my finger in the Europa League final. When the doctor showed me the X-ray, I started crying because I thought I would miss the World Cup," he said, in quotes reported by talkSPORT.
Surgery would have fixed the finger properly — but it would also have ruled him out for six weeks and ended his tournament before it began. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni backed him either way, messaging him: "Whether you make it or not, I'll back you… come anyway." Martinez chose not to have the operation.
Diving like a zombie
What followed was a World Cup played in agony. Adidas made him a special glove and he played with the finger completely wrapped, able to feel only four fingers. He could not even train with normal footballs, working with volleyballs until the Switzerland game, and rated the injury's effect on him at "10 out of 10".
"We decided not to have surgery. I could only feel four fingers," he said. "I was diving like a zombie. I dived like that, I got up and I put my hand down and I'd see stars … every night, until 12am, I'd be crying because my finger was like a blood sausage."
"Those are the risks you take for the national team; I'd do it again."
Martinez played every minute of Argentina's run to the final, where they lost 1-0 to Spain — a campaign the Standard notes he completed despite pain he says was far worse than the broken jaw he is recovering from now.
The move the finger cost him
The injury followed him into the transfer market. According to talkSPORT, Juventus agreed an £8.5 million package to sign him in June and Martinez told Villa he wanted the move — but it broke down once the finger damage was assessed, with the Italian club told he needed surgery.
Chelsea took a different view. "They said it was impossible for me to play like that, that I needed surgery. Chelsea didn't mind… (but) someday you will need an operation," Martinez said. He joined Chelsea instead, and played every minute of their Premier League campaign before fracturing his jaw at Everton two weeks ago — the injury that required jaw surgery and has kept him out since.
So what does it mean?
Martinez now has two recoveries running at once. Xabi Alonso said on Friday that a mask is being fitted to speed up his return from the jaw injury, which was initially expected to keep him out for a few weeks, and Martinez is said to be optimistic about beating that timeline. In his absence Mike Penders has stepped in, and Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with the young Belgian in goal.
The finger, though, is the longer shadow. A goalkeeper's hands are his career, and Martinez has admitted his will never be as they were — he is still playing with pain, and an operation he postponed for his country is still waiting somewhere in his future. Chelsea knew all of this when they signed him and signed him anyway. The gamble now is how long a 34-year-old can keep postponing that surgery before the bill comes due.
Beyond the Final Whistle verdict: Nobody can question Martinez's commitment — he sacrificed a finger, quite literally, for Argentina, and then a move to Juventus as a consequence. But Chelsea have bought a goalkeeper with a known, permanent problem in the one part of his body he cannot protect, and "someday you will need an operation" is a sentence that will hang over Stamford Bridge until the day it finally happens. Was Martinez right to refuse the surgery and play the World Cup in that pain? Have your say in the comments below.
