He is physically fit, with his signature back-to-back flips after scoring goals being a greeting for fans around the world; he's a youth gem for Inter, with Adriano's strike combination proudly called "the best partner of the next decade" by Nerazuri; his career is full of ups and downs, and his athletic talent has finally been smoothed out; and this issue of Football People brings you the former Nigerian demon: Obafimi Martins.
Obafemy Martins
Name: Obafemi Martins
Birthday/Age: October 28, 1984 (age 37)
Nationality: Nigerian, Italian
Place of Birth: Lagos City (Nigeria)
Position: Striker
Height: 170cm
Weight: 70kg
Dominant foot: Left foot
Relationships: Adriano (club teammate), Irving (club teammate), Dzeko (club teammate), Moreno (club teammate), Mancini (club coach)
Youth team: Inter Milan (Italy)
National team debut: 05 June 2004 Nigeria vs Rwanda
Main teams: Inter Milan (Serie A), Newcastle United (Premier League), Wolfsburg (Bundesliga), Kazan Ruby (Russian Premier League), Birmingham (Premier League), Levante (La Liga), Seattle Bayman (MLS), Shanghai Shenhua (Chinese Super League), Wuhan Zhuoer (Chinese Super League)
Main honors: 1 Serie A champion, 2 Italian Cups, 1 English League Cup, 1 Italian Super Cup, 2 Russian Cups, 1 Russian Super Cup, 1 Chinese FA Cup
Martins FM property diagram
As can be seen through the FM2010 attribute chart, Martins has amazing speed and explosive power, which allows him to navigate the position of the forward, in addition, the flexible and changeable characteristics allow him to freely intersperse around the center, becoming a weapon in the double forward tactics, I believe that live players have a more profound understanding of the power of Martins speed and acceleration double 99; next, we will enter the football world of Obafimi Martins together.
On October 28, 1984, the protagonist of this article, Obafemy Martins, was born in Lagos, Nigeria's largest port city, and unlike many African stars who have come out of the refugee camps, Martins's childhood is relatively wealthy, which also paves the way for his football enlightenment.
Innate athletic talent
As a child, Martins was small in stature, but he inherited the excellent running ability and bouncing ability of Africans, and in the local youth track and field competitions in Lagos, Martins often ate all the tracks and competed in multiple sports by himself, and his outstanding athletic talent soon attracted the attention of the coach of the Lagos semi-professional team Albert FC Club.
"If Martins hadn't chosen to play football at the age of 14, he would probably have represented Nigeria in a few years to compete in the 100-meter trapeze at the Olympics," Martins' athletic enlightenment coach Winkbo said in an interview.
In the year and a half of Ebbed FC, the 15-year-old Martins relied on extraordinary athletic talent, has fully equipped to compete with the adult players of other clubs on the green field, in 1999, italy's veteran club Regina club's youth scouts found Martins in an exchange match.
Chase your football dreams
The choice of staying with his parents to continue to feed and make a living or chasing his dreams to the Apennines for a new journey is not easy for an ordinary 15-year-old African boy, but Martins did not hesitate in the slightest, he came alone to strange Italy and set sail for his professional football dream.
Low-key diligence is the basis for Martins to settle down after coming to the Apennines, with more systematic youth training guidance, Martins' football skills and tactics have been greatly improved, nigerian witches soon stood out in the Regina academy, and made their Regina senior team debut at the age of 16 in the 00/01 season.
The Meazza Stadium is waiting for Martins to arrive
However, what Martins and all the fans did not expect was that the door of the Meazza Stadium was quietly opening to the unknown black boy, and since then it has begun a beautiful and bleak "ten-year covenant".
In 2001, Massimo Moratti sent a scouting report on Obafami Martins on his desk, and Morati, the president of any league giants Inter Milan, was quickly attracted to the black boy who was popular, and it was well known that President Moratti had a unique habit of hoarding forwards, and Martins naturally joined the Inter Milan academy.
Moratti took Martins to Inter
This is Martins's first encounter with Inter Milan, everything looks so wonderful, Martins came to the world's top youth training camp without any discomfort, athletics training foundation makes Martins always the most special among his peers, even Inter's famous physical training director Carminati praised him.
"The 20-meter run is very important for footballers, we often test Martins, his best time is 2.80 seconds, is the fastest player in Inter, followed by Cordoba's 3 seconds, Martins has a lot of white fiber, even if you go to be a sprinter will be very promising."
Amazing speed
"Not only the speed, Martins's bouncing is also very good, we did a computer review in Posck, his bounce in place reached 69 cm, the average score of a normal player is 45 cm, which is enough to see Martins's athletic talent, I would like to organize a game to see which Martins and Shevchenko are better in terms of physical function," Kalminati praised with a smile in an interview.
It was such outstanding athletic talent that Martins was promoted to the first team by Argentine Cooper, then inter manager, and ate Maldini's goal in the Champions League semi-final Milan derby, marveling at martins' continuous flips after scoring goals while fans began to realize that a supernova in the forward position was rising.
In the Champions League semi-final Milan derby raw eat Maldini scored
Meanwhile, Adriano, another protagonist of the "Ten Year Covenant", has already landed in Meazza in the 01/02 season, but due to the inter front at that time hoarding many big-name strikers such as Vieri, Ronaldo, Recoba, Cuarón, Ventola, Hacan Souk, etc., the young Ade was sent to Fiorentina and Parma to train.
The real fit of "Ad + Martins" began in 2004, when Adriano returned to the Nerazzurri at a sky-high price, and Martins gradually sat in the position of the team's main striker; Adriano was like a heavy tank, opening up territory in front of the opponent's goal, and Martins was like a stealth fighter, providing fire support for heavy armor on the ground.
Meazza "King": Adriano
The "Obafemi" in Martins' full name means "the king loves me", and interestingly, Adriano's nickname during the Inter era is "King Meazza", and whenever the two young striker stars team up to score a wonderful goal for Nerazuri, the meazza stadium erupts into deafening cheers.
The "best combination of Inter's strikers in the next decade" is on the horizon, as long as martins + Adriano is mentioned, it means the future of Inter Milan; in the two and a half seasons of the "ten-year combination", Martins has played 110 games for Inter, contributing 45 goals plus 10 assists, while Adriano has scored 59 goals and provided 13 assists for the "Nerazzurri" in 107 games.
The "Ten Year Covenant" is stunning but short-lived
However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very bone, a generation of emperor star Adriano due to the sudden death of his father completely sink, and Martins and Inter Milan 'ten-year covenant" is also as stunning but short as the short; in the summer window of 2006, Inter Milan officially announced that Martins transferred to Newcastle United in the Premier League for 10.9 million pounds, ending his 5-year blue and black career.
You know, Martins was not yet 22 years old when he left Inter, Moratti flatly rejected Portsmouth's £16 million offer for Martins' development prospects, and Martins himself left tears in his eyes after Inter's last training session.
During the Inter period, he single-handedly broke through the door
So you are reluctant to do so, what is the reason why the "ten-year covenant" eventually became the "ten-year tragedy"?
First, do not occupy the time: in the summer window of 2006 Crespo returned to China, coupled with the Swedish god Ibrahimovic's rush to help, Inter Milan's overly bloated forward attack group makes Martins' living space almost zero, excessive competition will increase the psychological pressure of forward players, which in turn leads to an imbalance of mentality, and the ability to grasp opportunities in front of the goal is reduced, so leaving at this time may be the best choice.
Second, do not occupy the profit: Martins too prominent speed advantage has become a "double-edged sword", the excessive "partiality" of technical characteristics makes Martins' development confused, as a center height disadvantage is more obvious, as a shadow forward to hold the ball and vision ideas appear to be relatively single, in the speed characteristics of the opponent with dense defense restrictions, Martins will often behave at a loss.
Wonderful goal from the Inter period
Third, not accountable: Martins's introverted personality makes it difficult for him to gain a foothold in the star-studded Inter dressing room, during Wang Dalei's trial training for Inter in 2006, the reporter once interviewed Figo and asked: "Will Wang Dalei's flamboyant personality affect his future development"; the answer of the Portuguese star is contemplative: "Professional players need personality, Martins is an example, he is very high-level, but unfortunately there is no personality, teammates are difficult to contact him." ”
After leaving Inter, Martins is more like a homeless boy, and the loss of his soul has also made him fail to cash in on his due football talent, in the three seasons of the "Magpies", the efficiency of 35 goals and 10 assists in 104 games can only be regarded as decent, and Martins, who is not willing to sink, decided to continue to drift.
The Newcastle period was a wonderful backlash
From 2009 to 2013, Martins played in wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Kazan Rubies in the Russian Premier League, Birmingham in the Premier League and Levante in La Liga, although there was also the inspiration to play for Arsenal in Birmingham to win the League Cup, but the life of the world gradually smoothed out Martins' athletic talent.
Beat Arsenal to lift the League Cup
Martins, who is 29 years old, found that the five major leagues in Europe have no place for themselves, and the Nigerian striker has no choice but to cross the ocean to join the MLS team Seattle Bayers, in the MLS arena of the tall and powerful MLS, and martins in the year of standing has found the state of the golden iron horse in the past, and the data of 43 goals and 22 assists in 84 games is enough to explain everything.
The Seattle Bayman period is a wonderful hanging shot
Martins, who had a second spring on the other side of the ocean, successfully attracted the attention of the "Golden Age" Chinese Super League tycoons, and on February 18, 2016, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua Football Club and the Us major league Seattle Bayman Football Club reached a transfer agreement, and Obafemi Martins officially landed in the Chinese Super League.
In the 2016 season, Martins made 26 appearances in the Chinese Super League, scoring 9 goals and 4 assists, making 5 appearances in the FA Cup, scoring 6 goals; in the case of the main striker Den baba Shanghai Derby suffered a serious leg injury, Martins stepped forward to carry the Shenhua offensive "banner" and became one of the important contributors to Shenhua's qualification for the AFC Champions League.
Shanghai Shenhua period wonderful breakthrough
In the 2018 season, Martins was injured in the AFC Champions League group stage match with Kashima Antlers, and was later diagnosed with a partial tear of the quadriceps tendon in his right knee, requiring surgery and an injury suspension of 6-7 months, which also meant that Martins' 2018 season was reimbursed.
In the 2020 season, Martins briefly returned to Shanghai Shenhua as the fifth striker, but his performance was not satisfactory; on September 20, 2020, Martins joined Wuhan Zall Football Club, but had few opportunities to play, and only left 1 goal for Wuhan, so that the 36-year-old Nigerian veteran gradually faded out of the mainstream media and the majority of fans.
Best wishes
"Ten years of life and death are vague, do not think, unforgettable; even if the encounter should not be recognized, dusty, sideburns like frost", perhaps a thousand years ago, the great writer Su Shi in the late night dream when the title of the "Jiang chengzi" can best represent the fans' sigh for Martins's career at this time, fortunately, we have the privilege of witnessing the wind chasing teenager in the green field when the extreme flip of the wave.
(Lanling TCFB)