Former Toon Striker Joins MLS

Former Newcastle no.9, Obafemi Martins, has today paid €3 million to buy out his contract with Levante in order to join MLS team, Seattle Sounders FC. 

The Nigerian striker, who had been leading the Spanish team’s goalscoring charts with 7 in 21 this season, will join up with Seattle this week. 

From Reuters:

“This afternoon, Martins has deposited with the Spanish football league the amount stipulated in the buy-out clause in his contract with Levante,” the club said in a statement.

Spanish media reported the figure to be 3 million euros ($3.9 million).”

Having scored 28 goals in 88 games for Newcastle, he signed on for Wolfsburg for £9m, where he scored 6 in 16. Russian team Rubin Kazan paid a massive €17m for him in 2010, but he failed to justify his price tag there, and was loaned out to Birmingham City. 

Though it is likely that Seattle will compensate Martins for buying out his deal, it is interesting to see how desperate Oba was to force a move through. He has cited the welfare of his family as a key reason for moving to America.

He will be playing alongside the likes of former Liverpool defender Djimi Traoré and Reading ‘keeper Marcus Hahnemann at Seattle. 

We wish him luck in his new endeavours