The future is now at the goalkeeper position for Aston Villa, as the club announced the signing of Japan international Zion Suzuki in a transfer which is reportedly worth up to £30m.
Suzuki, who turns 24 this week, arrives from Italian club Parma and is set to replace Emiliano Martínez, who had been pursued by Juventus before they pulled out of talks.
The decision to sign Suzuki seems like an attempt to take control of their own destiny at goalkeeper, having played a game of ‘Will he? Won’t he?’ with Martínez in the last couple of years as he angled for a move away.
Instead of waiting around to see whether Martínez leaves and then be left scrambling for a replacement, they have been proactive in signing his successor, and will now look to help the Argentinian secure an exit from the club.
Suzuki is almost 10 years younger than Martínez and has his whole career in front of him. He is however far less experienced and has big shoes to fill as he takes over for Villa’s greatest goalkeeper in the Premier League era.
So how does Suzuki stack up against Martínez? Here are their percentile ranks among goalkeepers in the top five European leagues last season:
Starting with their similarities, the two most obvious and perhaps most important areas where the two are comparable is save rate and even more crucially, claims.
One of Martínez’s biggest strengths was his ability to command the penalty area and pluck the ball out of the air, taking pressure off his defence including two centre-backs in Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres who are not the most physically dominant.
Any goalkeeper who Villa brought in to replace Martínez was going to have to possess that quality, and Suzuki fits the bill. Martínez averaged 1.43 claims per 90 minutes last season, with Suzuki only just behind at 1.37. They were two of the most active goalkeepers in Europe in that regard.
The reports that Suzuki was always Villa’s top choice to replace Martínez gain credibility through stats like this, especially compared to the other goalkeepers the club was linked with. The likes of Robin Risser, Bart Verbruggen and Guillaume Restes are not close to Suzuki in terms of claims.
Suzuki’s save rate is strong, which is pretty much a non-negotiable, and was actually slightly better than Martínez at 71.3% compared to 70.4%.
There are multiple statistics within their respective profiles which indicate a difference in circumstance or style rather than quality. Two of those are save total and goals conceded.
Parma finished 13th in Serie A last season, with Villa finishing 4th in the Premier League. Due to the difference in quality of the two sides, Suzuki naturally faced more shots on target per 90 minutes (4.65) compared to Martínez (4.25).
Therefore you would hope Suzuki averaged more saves per game than Martínez and it is not necessarily a statement on his ability. Similarly, the fact Suzuki conceded more goals per 90 (1.27 to 1.19) is more a reflection of his team’s quality than his own, given his impressive save rate.
The pair were almost identical in terms of sweeping up outside their penalty area to cut out long passes, however the depth at which they did so was wildly different. Suzuki’s average sweep occurred 30.3m from his own goal, compared to just 21.9 for Martínez.
Interestingly, the average sweep distance for Martínez has dropped in each of the last two seasons, which may be an indicator of Villa veering away from the high defensive line Unai Emery utilized so frequently back in 2023/24, the goalkeeper’s advanced age, or a combination.
Perhaps Suzuki will allow Emery to play with more risk again and push his team up higher in the defensive phase.
Distribution is another key element of an Emery goalkeeper, and on paper, it seems Martínez is way ahead of Suzuki in that regard. However, this is another case of the stats saying more about style than ability.
The Japanese goalkeeper is inferior to the Argentinian in distribution accuracy and open play pass accuracy by quite a distance, but he also played far fewer quick passes (which are likely to be short passes) and had a higher progressive pass rate.
If he is attempting more challenging, longer passes with greater regularity, it logically tracks that his overall accuracy will suffer. From watching him play, he certainly does not lack ability with his feet, executing smart passes into midfield as well as launching impressive long balls.
Still, he will need to be more precise with his passing in Emery’s system so as not to give the ball away in dangerous areas, and we will have to see how he does in that regard.
Suzuki profiles as an ideal long-term successor to Martínez, although replacing his impact not only as a player but a big personality within the team could take time, especially as he steps up to playing in a stronger league and the Champions League.
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