Can Martins succeed where other top international stars failed in Seattle?
Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins has joined Sounders FC according to a club press release.
Full Cascadia Cup Coverage:
The (Pre)View from Seattle: Sounders Will Need to Dig a Little Deeper to Uproot Timbers
The View from Portland – Timbers New Faces Seek to Rattle Sounders Old Guard
Sounders v Timbers – The View from Vancouver
Sigi Schmid Cascadia Derby Teleconference: Zach Scott Gave Traore Crash Course in the Rivalry
Caleb Porter: Sigi told me ‘You have to get used to losing’
Editorial: Have Montreal Overtaken the Cascadian Expansion Sides?
At just 28, he comes to MLS several years earlier in a career than has been the norm. His acquisition is the most ambitious move in the club’s history, possibly since the arrival of Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg in 2009, and maybe even including that.
Martins tweeted the news of his signing last week after apparently buying out his Levante contract himself. The transfer has been on and off in the media for weeks.
The path to Martin’s arrival in Seattle had been paved by the mutually agreed buy out of Christian Tiffert’s contract. The German midfielder occupied a Designated Player slot.
The Nigerian arrives to bolster a threadbare Sounders forward roster in which Eddie Johnson struggled with a natural midfielder Mauro Rosales as his strike partner on opening day against Montreal and again in the CCL away leg against Tigres.
So far this season two of Sounders FC’s three goals have come from defenders. All have come against a side with only ten men.
The Nigerian comes to Seattle with plenty experience of a variety of leagues.
Martins joined Spanish club Levante on a two year contract last September from Russian club Rubin Kazan who agreed to terminate his contract early. He had joined them from German club VFL Wolfsburg. Previously he had stints with Newcastle United and Birmingham City in England.
Perhaps the highlight of his career was his period in Serie A with Inter Milan between 2001 and 2006 where he netted 28 goals in 88 matches plus another 21 in 46 Cup matches. An Italian league title (Scudetto) came in his final year.
Ambitious Newcastle snapped him up from Italy in 2006 as the financial balance of power shift meant even mid table EPL clubs could compete financially with Italian league winners. He replaced Alan Shearer in the Newcastle number 9 shirt which has an almost mythical status on Tyneside. In all competitions, he netted 35 goals from 104 games for the Magpies.
He stayed one year into a four year contract at Wolfsburg before heading to Kazan and a three year contract.In 2012, he won a Russian Cup Winners medal there. During a loan spell at Birmingham City, we won the League Cup, scoring the winning goal in the final against Arsenal, the Blues first trophy since 1963.
Last September he headed to his last European destination, Levante, on a two year contract.
He scored on his debut, a 2-1 win over Basque side Real Sociedad.
He has 32 caps for Nigeria but has fallen in and out with the managers including current coach Stephen Keshi.
After Nigeria’s triumph in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Keshi told local press about ignoring Martins and Odemwingie:
“There were lots of uproars in Nigeria when I dropped Obafemi and Osaze, but I have my reasons for taking that decision, but Nigerians will not understand.
Personally, I felt it was not only skilful players that can do the job for us, but we needed other qualities in the players for this tournament.”
Martins in Seattle on Friday night
He hasn’t played a competitive fixture for the Super Eagles since the 2-2 draw with South Korea in the 2010 World Cup.
Now he arrives in Seattle to play for a Sounders club with a mixed track record on importing players from European Leagues. Freddie Ljungberg and Blaise Nkufo made some impact on Sounders FC history before deciding the MLS and Emerald City were not good enough for them.
If they were moderate successes, the same could not be said for Christian Sivebaek who barely made a mark, and Christian Tiffert whose contract had to be bought out to pave the way for Martins to occupy his DP slot.
Sounders fans are to hope that Martins will accrue the same popularity in his first year here as Austrian keeper Mike Gspurning who is well respected both on and off the field.
Cascadia Cup Build up
Sounders Announce Martins Signing
The (Pre)View from Seattle: Sounders Will Need to Dig a Little Deeper to Uproot Timbers
Sigi Schmid Cascadia Derby Teleconference: Zach Scott Gave Traore Crash Course in the Rivalry
A Cascadian Midfield Battle? – Timbers New Faces Seek to Rattle Sounders Old Guard
Sounders v Timbers – The View from VancouverMarch 14, 2013
Editorial: Have Montreal Overtaken the Cascadian Expansion Sides?
March 11, 2013 at 2:07 pm
If this is true, it marks the most ambitious and audacious move by the Seattle FO yet. That the player bought out his own contract, seems a little weird.
How will he and Eddie Johnson co-exist? If there’s enough service for both of them, that shouldn’t be a problem.
March 11, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Why would he buy put his own contract? I am puzzled.
March 11, 2013 at 2:48 pm
It was something his agent Carlos Ayats Pérez tweeted he had done. Often wealthy players do it, to allow their career to move on. One wonders though, that Sounders were prevented (at least formally) from contributing because it would count against the cap, and that Martins doing it was the only path open.
March 12, 2013 at 11:48 am
He will pick up the money on the back end when we can pay him what ever we want above the cap. 4 years at 1.7 million should help to cover some of it…
March 12, 2013 at 9:52 am
I can just imagine Oba walking through the streets of Valencia in the wee hours of the mornings carrying a bag full of cash, whistling “The bluest skys I’ve ever seen are in Seattle.”
March 15, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Very excited about Martins! Let’s just get it straight though, Inter didn’t win the Scudetto in 2006, it was given to them by the courts in a case that never determined Juventus did anything wrong, with information given by Inter. Inter may claim that one but they were 15 points behind at the end of the season. 30 sul campo!
March 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Kudos to the Italians for actually stripping a side of its titles when they cheat and break the rules.
March 16, 2013 at 6:48 am
Actually the highest classified team in 2006 that was completely free of any wrongdoing was Livorno.