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Newcastle aren't keen to pay Inter Milan's asking price for pacey Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins, because he might be six years older than advertised. Martins is supposedly 21, but it's been suggested he once played alongside Newcastle defender Celestine Babayaro (27) in a Nigerian youth team.
Apparently Newcastle would still be keen to sign Martins (proving they're not age discriminators) but not for the current £10million asking price.
On one hand Martins is unbelievably quick, and does those incredible somersaults when he scores. Surely the hallmarks of a young man. On the other hand, you can see that he's just starting to recede a little around the temples.
Soccer Weblog suggests they split the difference, and agree that Martins is 24.
One Response
kenneth on 18-08-2006 at 1:01 pm
He could never have played alongside Celestine Babayaro in any Nigerian youth team. I played for Ebedei Football Club a Lagos based youth team in 1998 owned Churchill Olise older brother to Sunday Olise. The spin artist in this case is Celestine Babayaro. He should be asked which team they played for and when. It is a mischievious game that he is playing. I am aware that he did the same thing to Austin Okocha in the past.
In Nigeria,we don’t have professional youth teams, and Ebedei FC being a Lagos based amateur youth team could not have employed Celestine Babayaro who lived all his life in most of his life in Northern Nigeria. If Martins was in active football as at 1994 when Babayaro joined Anderlecht. He should have at least played in the Nigerian football league divisions 1 to 4. There is no record of him from my search of him being in any team.
I think Celestine may be jealous that a young Nigerian is coming to become a star player in his team. The claims of Babayaro are verifiable. The questions he should be asked is which team did they play for together, when and where. And which team or teams was Martins for Ebedei FC came into existence after 1996 when I left Nigeria because Churchill Olise was still working as a lawyer in a Nigeria government agency