A player Chelsea signed over the summer has admitted he’ll never be the same again after sustaining a life-changing injury.

Chelsea once again spent vast sums over the summer, and broke their transfer record when landing Morgan Rogers to the tune of £117m.

Marco Palestra, Maxence Lacroix and Geovany Quenda were the other big arrivals in terms of outlay, while a new starting goalkeeper arrived after the Blues finally threw in the towel on Robert Sanchez.

Emiliano Martinez was that man, though the Argentine has just admitted he’s living with a finger injury that causes pain.

Martinez suffered the injury while warming up for Aston Villa ahead of their Europa League final clash with Freiburg.

Martinez still played the contest, in which Villa romped to victory, and also played for his country at the World Cup.

It was determined surgery is necessary to fix the problem, though Martinez has chosen not to have an operation.

Emiliano Martinez opens up on finger issue

‘It will never go back to how it was,’ Martinez told Argentine journalist, Gaston Edul (as cited by the Daily Mail). ‘I am still playing with pain.

‘The day before [Argentina vs] Algeria I was diving with one arm, diving like a zombie.

‘If I put my hand down I was seeing stars. It was brutal. Every single night I was crying because my finger looked like a sausage.

‘But these are the risks you take for the national team, I’d do it again.’

The veteran goalkeeper was heavily linked with Juventus over the summer and Martinez admitted a transfer fell through as a direct result of the finger issue.

However, Martinez noted Chelsea weren’t put off by the problem, even though he’s now admitting he’s playing with pain, which must affect his performances in some way.

He added: ‘I got an x-ray and it was broken again. That is when a transfer to a club fell through because of the finger.

‘They said it was possible for me to play like that, that I needed surgery, but Chelsea didn’t, they didn’t care. One day I will need surgery.’

Martinez is currently sidelined with a fractured jaw, with Mike Penders – who Chelsea view as their future stopper – stepping in for the time being.