Martins to Toon.

Martins flies in for Magpies move


Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins will arrive in Newcastle on Thursday to tie up his £10m move from Inter Milan.
The 21-year-old, viewed as a replacement for Alan Shearer and the injured Michael Owen, will undergo a medical and agree personal terms.

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder said: "There have been a dozen other strikers who were rumoured to be coming but he has always been the man I wanted.

"I wanted the pace. So for all the speculation, I knew who I was after."

Newcastle officials travelled to Italy earlier this week and successfully agreed a fee for Martins.

Martins has been unsettled at Inter since the club brought in Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Argentine Hernan Crespo to strengthen their forward line.

He said Newcastle's determination to sign him had played a major part in his decision to join the Magpies.

"Playing in the Premiership has been a long-term ambition and I am extremely delighted with the prospect of concluding that in the next couple of days," he added.

Martins is expected to be in the crowd at St James' Park for the Uefa Cup qualifier against FK Ventspils and, if his move goes through, he could could straight into the squad for Sunday's trip to Aston Villa.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/5274298.stm

At least they got a proper striker now.

It'll be interesting to see how he does, should he sign, 10 Million is a huge price tag which is why Dirk Kuyt also has a lot of pressure on him at Liverpool.

A good signing for Newcastle though

Kidding surely?

£10m is peanuts for a Toon striker. I'm surprised they didn't manage to negotiate the price up a couple of million.

more of a replacement for Owen than for Shearer. Sides will soon learn to let Newcastle play infront of them.

It was funny hearing Emre talk about him to Sky as they were ex team mates at Inter.

He was happy to talk about his qualities as a player but then when talking about him as a person he stuttered slightly, looked to the ground and just said, "he's a.....good boy".

On the grapvine outside my house I hear they maybe after Gravesen and Bridge.

dont they have enough midfielders already? And doesnt Babayaro play LB.

Dont they need a centre back?

Roger_Hunt wrote:Kidding surely?

£10m is peanuts for a Toon striker. I'm surprised they didn't manage to negotiate the price up a couple of million.

where does all this leave old Albert..... What a signing he has been...

martins and ameobi will be great together...as ever newcastle look half decent..

but won't be in reality

Parks Lives wrote:It was funny hearing Emre talk about him to Sky as they were ex team mates at Inter.

He was happy to talk about his qualities as a player but then when talking about him as a person he stuttered slightly, looked to the ground and just said, "he's a.....good boy".

Clergyman Superstains wrote:On the grapvine outside my house I hear they maybe after Gravesen and Bridge.

dont they have enough midfielders already? And doesnt Babayaro play LB.

Dont they need a centre back?

Babayaro isn't very good at football. He is good at falling down in a comic fashion.

Bridge is Chelea's best player on current form - I doubt he'll be off in this window.

well if we genuinely want a left sided player lets go and get luque at knock down price, and offer them tw@t petrov in return. luque is an excellent player hinderedby injury and lack of opportunities at newcastle

The question is.... will he get the #9 shirt???


@ Clergyman Superstains

Indeed we do have Babayaro, unfortunately he is utter shite. A new left back is a priority. We could do with a center back aswell for strength in depth, i'd be happy with Moore/Taylor for the first team though.

There arent many better LB in the premiership than Bridge, and he wont want to stay if Chelsea do get Cole.

Im confuzzled about Graveson, I think he would be a hindarence to Newcastle rather than a plus if you get him.

Clergyman Superstains wrote:There arent many better LB in the premiership than Bridge, and he wont want to stay if Chelsea do get Cole.

Im confuzzled about Graveson, I think he would be a hindarence to Newcastle rather than a plus if you get him.

I agree, i don't see the point in us getting him. We've already got Parker, Emre, ZoG, Butt, Dyer, and Pattison. It would make no sense.