Josep Martínez Riera (born 27 May 1998) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. He made one appearance for the Spain national team in 2021.

Club career

Las Palmas

Born in Alzira,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Martínez joined

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; ), is FC Barcelona's youth academy. It includes more than 300 young players and has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success, producing several world class players and ...

in July 2015, from his hometown's Alzira. On 19 July 2017, after finishing his formation, he signed for

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

and was assigned to the reserves in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. Martínez made his senior debut on 20 August 2017, starting in a 1–1 home draw against

Melilla Melilla (, ; ) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was part of the Province of Málaga un ...

. He finished the campaign as a starter, as his side avoided relegation. Martínez made his first team debut on 28 April 2019, playing the full 90 minutes of a 4–1 home routing of

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

championship. On 17 June, he was definitely promoted to the main squad.

RB Leipzig

On 22 January 2020,

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

reached an agreement with Las Palmas for the transfer of Martínez, effective as of 1 July. He agreed to a contract until 2024 with his new club.

Genoa

On 29 June 2022, Martínez was loaned to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in Italy for the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

2022–23 season. On 9 June 2023, since the inclusion of a "sell-out" right following the promotion to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, Martínez was bought by Genoa.

Inter Milan

On 9 July 2024, Martínez signed for fellow Serie A side

on a permanent basis. He made his debut on 19 December 2024 in the round of 16 of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

. After first-choice goalkeeper

Yann Sommer Yann Sommer (born 17 December 1988) is a Swiss professional association football, footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Serie A club Inter Milan. Known for his exceptional reflexes and high agility, Sommer is ...

sustained a fractured thumb in training, Martínez made his

debut for the club on 22 February 2025, securing a 1–0 victory against his former team, Genoa.

International career

Due to the isolation of some national team players following the positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

test of

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. A deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay through short and calm passe ...

, Spain's under-21 squad were called up for the international friendly against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

on 8 June 2021. Martínez made his senior debut in the match.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

RB Leipzig *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Josep 1998 births Living people People from Alzira, Valencia Footballers from the Province of Valencia Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players UD Las Palmas Atlético players UD Las Palmas players RB Leipzig players Genoa CFC players Inter Milan players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Spanish sportsmen