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Obafemi Martins

Martins is known for his great pace and athleticism. Despite being small in size he has a great leap. He is predominantly left footed but can score with either foot and his head. He was part of the youth setup at Reggina in 2000 but moved to Inter Milan a year later for €750,000. With the youth squad he has scored 23 goals in one season.

He became part of the Inter first team in 2002 amking his debut against Parma but did not fully break into the team until the following season. It was in 2003 that Obafemi really made his mark at Inter. During the second group stage of the Champions League he scored in Inter's final game against Bayer Leverkusen to send his club through to the quarter finals (at the expense of Newcastle United) and then scored another goal in the semi final against AC Milan although Inter were defeated on away goals.

Oba signed a long term contract with Inter in 2005 which should run until 2010 and as his good form continued he was called up by Nigeria for the 2006 African Cup of Nations.

Martins enjoyed good succes at Inter, scoring 28 in 88 appearances, however, in 2006 following the arrivals of Hernan Crespo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and fearing being frozen out of the first team he handed in a transfer request. Newcastle United were on the lookout for a new striker following the retirement of Alan Shearer and long term injury to Michael Owen and Oba was soon on his way to Tyneside for £10million. He was handed the famous number 9 jersey that had been occupied by Shearer for the last ten years.

His early days at Newcastle were difficult as he tried to come to terms with English football. During his early games his performances were poor and he was labelled a flop by pundits. Then on September 17th 2006 he scored his first Newcastle goal in a 2-0 win over West Ham and his goalscoring form steadily improved.

His finished his first season on double figures, including a powerful and unforgetable 84mph strike from 20 yards against Tottenham Hotspur in January 2007. This was his tenth Newcastle goal and in total he scored 17 during that season. Oba also showed his great scoring ability as he netted a first half hat-trick during a UEFA Cup tie against AJ Alkmaar.

In 2007/2008 Martins was expected to be a regular strike partner for Michael Owen. He scored two goals in the opening game of the season against Bolton Wanderers including an overhead kick goal. However, when Michael Owen returned to fitness, Martins was dropped in favour of new signing Mark Viduka.

In January 2008 he left Newcastle join up with the Nigerian squad for the African Cup of Nations. On his return the club had changed managers with Kevin Keegan now back at the helm, Owen at full fitness and Viduka not seeing much first team action.

Info

Full name: Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins
DOB: 28th October 1984
Place of Birth: Lagos, Nigeria
Height: 5ft 7in
Position: Striker
Signed from: Inter Milan
Date signed: 24th August 2006
Debut: 27th August 2006 v Aston Villa

Facts

Oba is from a footballing family, his elder brother plays for FK Partizan and his younger brother plays in Nigeria.

Obafemi wears the number nine shirt, thus replacing club record goalscorer Alan Shearer who had occupied the shirt for the past ten years.

Martins goal for Newcastle against Tottenham in January 2007 is the 9th hardest shot on record, recorded at 84mph.