Obafemi Martins

Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born October 28, 1984 in Lagos, Nigeria () is a Nigeria football (soccer) player who plays as a striker for the Nigeria national football team, and for the England club Newcastle United F.C..

Biography

Martins is known for his exceptional pace, powerful shots and acrobatic Goal celebration. Although relatively short, Martins has a good leap and it has been reported that he used to be very good at the long jump and high jump. Martins is left footed; however, since joining Newcastle United F.C. he has shown that he is also more than capable of scoring with both feet, and also his head.

Martins wears Nike, Inc. Mercurial Vapor football boots.

Martins has two brothers who also play football. His elder brother, Oladipupo Olarotini Martins, is on the books of Serbian side FK Partizan, whilst his younger brother John Abiola Martins plays football in Nigeria.

The name 'Obafemi' translates literally to 'the king loves me' in the Yoruba language.

Internazionale

In 2000, Martins was involved in the youth setup at AC Reggiana, and moved into Inter's youth squad following season in a Euro750,000 deal. With the youth squad he scored 23 goals that season, helping them win the Italy Under-18 title.

He became a part of the Inter first team in 2002 making his debut against Parma FC in December of that year. However he did not fully break into the first team until the following season. It was in 2003 that he fully made his mark with the club in the UEFA Champions League, first scoring a crucial goal against Bayer 04 Leverkusen to secure Inter's place in the quarter finals of the competition. Martins then scored another goal in the semi-final of the competition against Milanese rivals AC Milan, although Inter were eventually defeated on the away goals rule.

Martins signed a long-term contract with Inter in 2005 which ran until 2010 and was worth around Euro2.5 million annually. His good form for Inter continued and he was called to play in the 2006 African Nations Cup for Nigeria.

Although he had some success with Inter, scoring 28 goals for the club in 88 league games as well as 11 goals in European competitions, the young Nigerian was sold in August 2006. This was due to Inter bringing in two new strikers; first Argentinian Hernán Crespo was brought in on loan from Chelsea F.C. and then the Bosnian Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović was bought by Inter from recently relegated Juventus.

During his time at Inter he picked up an accolade at the 2004 Italian Media Awards held in Rome. He was awarded 'Most Entertaining Interviewee,' fighting off stiff competition from Taribo West and Ron Atkinson.

Newcastle United

With Martins handing in a transfer request in August 2006, a number of English clubs were alerted to his availability. From the onset, Newcastle were thought to be the front runners and it was no surprise when on August 24 2006 Martins completed his move to Newcastle United from Inter for £10.1 million (€15 million), signing a five year deal. He was paraded in front of the Geordie fans before their UEFA cup tie against FK Ventspils, it was later confirmed he would be taking the famous number 9 shirt, replacing club-record goalscorer Alan Shearer who had occupied it for the previous 10 years.

Martins made his debut on August 27, in the 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa F.C., in which he was stretchered off with a knee injury. It turned out that Martins suffered a severe dead leg and internal bleeding. His unremarkable first few appearances for Newcastle caused manager Glenn Roeder to speak out in his defence.

However, on Sunday 17 September 2006, Martins scored his first goal for Newcastle. It was the second goal in a 2-0 victory over West Ham United F.C. at Boleyn Ground, and from there his goalscoring form began to improve steadily.

Reports on January 11 2007 indicated that Chelsea F.C. were considering making an offer for Martins services after his impressive form. These reports were later rubbished by Glenn Roeder and Martins himself.

On January 14 2007 in a 2-3 away win against Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Martins' 20 yard shot flew into the net. This strike was clocked by Sky Sports at a speed of 84 mph (135 km/h), making it unofficially the ninth hardest shot ever recorded in football according to the Guardian website. This was his tenth goal for Newcastle. Martins ended his first season on Tyneside with 17 goals in 46 games.

International career

Martins has scored 11 goals in 14 appearances for Nigeria national football team. He was a part of the Nigerian team that finished third in the 2006 African Cup of Nations. Martins scored two goals in the competition, both coming against Senegal national football team in the first round.

His future for the national team has been placed in doubt on numerous occasions after separate incidents of controversy. In August, 2006 the Nigeria Football Association website mistakenly had his date of birth down as May 1, 1978. This would have made him twenty-eight years of age, rather than twenty-one. The Nigerian FA soon confirmed that it had been an administrative error and apologised for the confusion it had caused. However Martins threatened to quit playing for the national team after the blunder had initially put his move to Newcastle in doubt.

On February 6, 2007 he did not turn up for the 4-1 friendly defeat against Ghana national football team, despite being ordered to play. He later explained his absence was due to the fact he had travelled to Lagos in order to visit his sick mother.
The Nigerian caretaker coach Augustine Eguavoen was furious with Martins and threatened to ban him from the national team. On February 14, 2007 Martins apologised for missing the game but said he believed his mother's health was more important. He also said that he will be available to play for Nigeria in the future. He made his return to the national side on March 24, 2007, playing the full 90 minutes against Uganda national football team in an African Cup of Nations Qualifying match and won.

On the 18th of June, 2007, while driving home in Lagos from Nigeria's Nations Cup qualifier versus Niger national football team, Martins' Mercedes was sprayed with bullets. Martins was not hit, but a friend who was in the car with him was injured. The Nigerian police, however, claim that Martins lied about the incident in order to avoid international duty. Although this claim was denied by the Super Eagles wonderkid.