Obafemi Martins Bio Send To Friend  

A pacy and powerful striker, known for his somersault celebrations, martins is capable of both the spectacular and the mediocre - he can destroy teams on his day yet be anonymous on others. After being snapped up as a 14-year-old to play for local Nigeria side FC Ebedei, Martins found his career accelerating very quickly with a move to Italian side Reggiana coming when he was 16 before he was lured to Inter Milan. After a prolific time in Inter's youth team -where he scored 23 goals to help the Under-18s win the Italian title - he broke into the first team in 2002.

Throughout his time at Inter, Martins was mainly used as an impact player to bring on and terrorise tired defences with his pace but there was no doubting his scoring ability, with memorable Champions League strikes against AC Milan in the 2003 semi-final defeat and 2006 Coppa Italia victory over Roma among his highlights. He also claimed the African Young Player of the Year award in both 2003 and 2004 but after finding it impossible to usurp the Nerazurri's favoured front pairing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Adriano, Martins moved to the Premier League with Newcastle United in 2006. He wore the famous number nine shirt of club legend Alan Shearer and netted 34 goals in 89 games before moving to Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg after Newcastle's relegation, in the summer of 2008.

The 2010 finals will be Martins first World Cup appearance and Nigeria have him to thank for their place. He came on as a substitute with the Super Eagles 1-0 down against Kenya and scored the equaliser and then the winner to secure a 3-2 victory. He has proved an accomplished international scorer and was Nigeria's top scorer in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign with eight goals. Martins' career has been surrounded by controversy over his age, with rumours surfacing that the big Nigerian is actually three years older than he claims to be. His refusal to take a bone-test, which would have revealed his correct date of birth, sparked inquiries, but the Nigerian FA confirmed that they had made a clerical error on his birth date (which stated he was born in 1978) when they first called him up to the national team.

Strengths: Blistering pace, accomplished in the air and possesses a ferocious shot.

Weaknesses: Tendency to drift in and out of games.

Career High: Winning the African Young Player of the Year award in both 2003 and 2004. Scoring the two goals in a 3-2 victory over Kenya that secured Nigeria's spot at the 2010 finals.

Career Low: Suffering relegation from the Premier League with Newcastle United at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Style: Pacy striker with an eye for a spectacular goal and spectacular celebration.

Quotes: "What the opposition fear with Oba is they are not sure what he is going to do because at times, he probably doesn't know himself. You can take that as a negative or a positive, but he is a threat. He is good in the air and he can score great goals." Alan Shearer, 2009.

Trivia: Martins was named "Most Entertaining Interviewee" by the Italian press in 2004.

Soccernet says: His goals booked Nigeria's surprise berth at the finals and Martins will be hoping to continue netting at the 2010 finals. Grafite and Erin Dzeko have often started ahead of him for Wolfsburg but Martins has plenty of top-level European experience and will be leading the Nigerian line in South Africa, where his pace will be universally feared.