Obafemi Martins

Obafemi Martins

Obafemi Akinwunmi Foluwashola Oshadi Martins (born on 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian football player who plays as a forward for the Nigeria national team, and for the German Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

Martins has two brothers who also play football professionally: his elder brother, Oladipupo Olarotini Martins, and his younger brother John Ronan Martins.[1] The name 'Obafemi' translates literally to 'the king loves me' in the Yoruba language

Personal information

Full name Obafemi Akinwunmi Oshadi Martins
Date of birth 28 October 1984 (1984-10-28) (age 24)
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
-weight:bold;">Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information

Current club Wolfsburg
Number 11

Youth career

1999–2000 F.C. Ebedei
2000–2001 Reggiana
2001–2002 Internazionale

Senior career

Years Club App (Gls)*
2002–2006 Internazionale 88 (28)
2006–2009 Newcastle United 88 (28)
2009– Wolfsburg 06 0(2)

National team
2004– Nigeria 24 (13)

Club career

Early years

Born in Lagos, Martins joined the local football club F.C. Ebedei at the age of 14, having been scouted by manager Churchill Oliseh while playing on the streets of his hometown. After a year with the club, Italian Serie C side A.C. Reggiana made a move for the player. After a two-month trial, Martins and fellow Ebedei teammate Stephen Makinwa signed youth contracts with the club in 2000. His first season in Italy saw Martins break into the first team squad, and later in the year Serie A sides Perugia and Inter made offers for the forward.

Internazionale

A €750,000 transfer fee took Martins to Internazionale in 2001, and in his first season he scored 23 goals for the youth team, helping them to the Italian Under-18 title. His form for the youth side led to his first-team league debut the following season, in a match against Parma in December 2002. He didn't become a regular member of the first team squad until the 2002–03 season. He played in his first UEFA Champions League match that season, and came on as a substitute against his future employers, Newcastle United, at St. James' Park. He scored his first Champions League goal in a match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen to secure Inter's place in the quarter finals; footage of his celebratory somersaults were subsequently used by UEFA to advertise the following season's competition. He scored again in the semi-final match against Inter's arch-rivals A.C. Milan, but couldn't prevent the club losing out on away goals to the competition's eventual winners. He ended the season with one league goal in four games.

Martins signed a long-term contract with Inter Milan in 2005 which ran until 2010 and was worth around €2.5 million annually.[6] His good form for Inter continued and he was called to play in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations 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 and then the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic was bought by Inter from Juventus.

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 24 August 2006, Martins completed his move to Newcastle United from Internazionale, signing for around £10 million in 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 following his retirement.

Martins made his debut on 27 August, in the 2–0 defeat to Aston Villa, 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.
Martins scored 6 goals in 12 league games during the first half of the 2008–09 season before a torn hamstring ruled him out for several games.[11] It was confirmed on 7 January 2009, that Martins would undergo hernia surgery in Germany the next Monday. He was be operated on by renowned specialist Dr. Ulrike Muschaweck.He did make it back in time for the last two games of the season but could not stop Newcastle being relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship.
During his three-year spell on Tyneside, Martins became a firm favourite of the fans and amassed 39 goals in all competitions from 105 games.

Just by coincidence, Martins played 88 league games and scored 28 Serie A goals for Inter and also played and scored the exact same amounts in the Premiership for Newcastle.

Wolfsburg

On 29 July 2009 Newcastle United accepted a £9million bid from Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg, the transfer was confirmed on 31 July with Martins signing a four year contract.[13] The four year deal was finished on August 12, with the club officially unveiling the Nigerian international to the press and Wolfsburg supporters'.[14] For his debut, Martins came on as a second half substitute against FC Koln at the Rhein Energie Stadion, with his team deadlocked at 1-1. He helped in the buildup to the second goal and capped off his first appearance in the Bundesliga for Wolfsburg with a well-taken goal after dribbling past two on-rushing defenders in the arc, and then cooly finishing from six yards out, slotting the ball past the Cologne keeper to the far post.


Honours

Nigeria Individual:

* Confederation of African Football 'Young Player of the Year' 2003
* Confederation of African Football 'Young Player of the Year' 2004

Italy Internazionale:

* Italian Serie A - Winner: 2005–06
* Coppa Italia - Winner: 2004–05, 2005–06
* SuperCoppa Italiana - Winner: 2004–05, 2005–06

England Newcastle United:

* UEFA Intertoto Cup - Winner: 2006.