Obafemi Martins has reportedly been offered a £25M deal to stay at Newcastle until 2013.
Oba Martins – glad to stay at Newcastle United long term
The Nigerian striker came to St James’ Park in the summer of 2006 in a £10M move from Italian giants Inter Milan.
Despite showing flashes of brilliance he’s failed to hit top form consistently, and has scored 7 goals to be Newcastle’s top scorer so far this season.
The Sun claims today that Newcastle want to offer the hit man a massive deal to keep him at the club. The 23-year-old Nigerian still has over 3 years of his current contract to run but owner Mike Ashley has said to have wanted a two-year extension to Oba’s contract and a 50 per cent wage rise to around £90K/week.
So that’s around £4.5M a year over 5.5 years – which is a deal worth around £24.75M – not too bad for a young 23 year-old.
As part of that deal Martins has reportedly agreed to remove his £13m release clause.
Oba is quoted as saying:
“These are exciting times and I want to stay.”
But we thought the release clause had already been removed according to Chairman Chris Mort in September. But this could well be the extended deal that was part of that agreement.
We think Oba still has a long way to go to fulfill his potential so we are pleased to see him staying long term. He’s a lovely lad and just loves it at the club, and he’s also well liked by the fans.
We also think Kevin can be a big help to Oba in coaching him how to put those chances away — at least we hope so. 😀
But what do you think?
Comments welcome.
28 comments so far
James
Jan 25, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Comment #1Great stuff. Let’s see OBa bang the goals in!
AlexW
Jan 25, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Comment #2he is awsome but isnt worth it….
wsq
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Comment #3We have time to renegotiate his contract but no time for taylor’s contract??? how is that possible.
Taylor must have an incompetent agent
Nev
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Comment #4taylor’s agent is his dad lol
Hadrian
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Comment #5so says the sun ………..
must be true ehh ?
ed, anything you posted from other papers in this past two weeks came true?
didnt think so .
sparetheman
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Comment #6Pretty much like everything else written about Newcastle these days I think this is garbage. Keegan supposedly said YESTERDAY he hasn’t got time to deal with contract renewals at the moment.
If it’s true, it’s an absurd amount to offer a player who has found little form this season. Plus I was under the impression that clause no longer existed in his contract already?
Tez131
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Comment #7We need to offer Taylor a new contract soon. The lad gives his all every game and could be our future captain!
He is on under £10k from what I hear but we bring in new players and over far more in wages.
Offer him a long contract on decent money and he will accept, I couldn’t see him play for anyone else.
James
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Comment #8The papers also claim that Ashley will battle Manure next week for Berbatov with both clubs set to offer £30 million.
valle
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Comment #9Sell Oba, and concentrate on Taylors contract
James
Jan 25, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Comment #10To show there is no truth in this – How can Keegan offer a new contract to someone he hasn’t met yet??
Oba has been in Africa the whole time Keegan has been back.
Mart
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Comment #11Spend the money on Berbatov instead and sell Oba. That’s my view.
And let’s not believe anything the sun says eh ? They and others print any made up rubbish in order to boost sales. They dont care whether there’s even a glimmer of truth in what they say.
thelongshanks
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Comment #12It is serious money and im sure this rumour isnt true.But yet again we have people bad mouthing martins.If it wasnt for him last season we could have been relegated.Also, with BSA tactics of long ball no wonder the man hasnt been scoring week in week out.He needs it on the ground and running after it,this is the centre midfields fault cause when is the last time we can remember a through ball past the other teams defense.
Fair enuf,he has to improve his touch ,he has to work on his passing and finishing but when he does we will be flying.I think we havent seen nearly how good martins can be and i cant wait to have him back from the African nations under keegan.
Staffsmag
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Comment #13More bulls*%t from the sun ! Stay out of the sun !!! lol you know it makes sense
UTD111
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Comment #14Need to take all these press stories with a “pinch of salt”as the saying goes! Look how right they were about who was going to be our next manager!! Martins simply isnt worth that sort of money – his first touch is normally diabolical and he charges round with his head down and misses loads of opportunities to pass to better placed players when chances are on.
ObaFan2
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Comment #15A. Oliver says we are buying Woodgate, Southgate says no contact has been made by us!
Pandev is staying at Lazio till the summer.
Oba offered better contract? When ?
I love Oba but this is a strange rumour, would love him to stay but I think, like others, Taylors contract is more important.
If it’s true then great. Considering his form this season the timing is a little strange to say the least.
Roll on Feb 1st, I for one am sick of all this speculation by the press.
Chicken
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Comment #16WTF??
HOW MUCH???
He’s alright but he’s not worth half that.
On current form I wouldn’t object to getting rid.
Leo
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Comment #17thats a hell of a lot of money, hopefully he will live up to his price tag and wages… get the goals flowing
yongMalaysia
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Comment #18Sell Oba to get Berbatov and renew Taylor’s contract as soon as possible…
Steve_48
Jan 25, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Comment #19Have to agree with you there Chicken…
The words bar door spring to my mind, HOWEVER, a striker is only as good as his service, and as such we’ve struggled universally this season to do so.
Given the right infrastructure and cross of the ball you’d hope his form will come good, and this will also serve Owen well too.
One last thing, this shows the ineptitude of FFS when offering a contract to the likes of Oba [and Owen] with a get out clause embedded; bad idea at the time and does us no favours when it comes to players wanting away ,and other managers trying to poach. At least if this contract is renogociated and the get out clause removed it will be a saving grace, but on current form c£90k per week, you’re having a laugh MA. Money may well be no object but VFM is key.
AdamCF
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Comment #20Taylor’s going nowhere. Oba’s new contract is still only half of what Micky O gets.. and he’s twice the striker.. (At least he’s on the pitch) 😉
George
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Comment #21Take this report with a pinch of salt.
If like me you are a genuine supporter, when was the last time that MA or CM spoke to the press about a players contract or wages and remember there are no shareholder financial statements to come out to disclose salaries. This is another example of lies made up for a story. Only difference this time is it is not a negative story, however, it could have a detramental effect, as it could show us to have more cash than what MA is prepared to put up, and hence price some players out of our reach.
Whichever way the press go they bloody cause us agro, why oh why can they not try printing the truth for once.
scott9
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Comment #22grat stuff if its true oba is world class or gonna be he has a special ability
Obafan
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Comment #23Like I once said: okay Oba in his current form is far from good, but who is, not Owen, Smith, Butt, Enrique, … even Taylor made childish mistakes which costed us goals. Only Beye and Faye have been consistent this season. SO whould we get rid of all of them, NO. One of the main reason that we play that bad is because no-one plays with confidence.
For Oba this is the reason:
1. bad service from our non-creative poor midfield
2. has to work very hard to create himself a chance, when he finally has the chance he misses them most of the time (not fresh enough)
3. constant pressure from Owen (injury than no problem, 1/2 fit and Oba had to sit on the bench for him ‘under FSA’)
4. other players (Smith, Butt, ..) can do whatever they want they play; Oba does 1 thing wrong and … on the bench
5. missing chances and not having a good relationship with FSA => confidence goes away
The amount is too high, but is that not the problem in the whole football world.
Give him confidence and he will proove his worth to the team (don’t forget last year, when he banged in lots of goals in an average team).
Stami
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Comment #24Obafan…i could not agree with you more. he is world class, but you cant do it on your own! all our strikers have had a tough time scoring goals due to the defensive nature of our midfield! i think it also must be hard to settle when you have a new manager every 6 months! give Oba a little bit of deserved faith, after all, look what he did towards the end of Roeders last season! i think he will be amazing under King Kev!!!
James
Jan 25, 2008 at 1:49 PM
Comment #25Stami – Martins is world class??? Are you on drugs?? His positional play during games is terrible. And he is far from being a clinical striker.
Keegan will get more goals out of him, but he will never be world class. He doesn’t have the football brain to be.
Obafan
Jan 25, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Comment #26James – You can’t say that when Oba has the confidence that he doesn’t bang the ball into the net very often, on the contrary. Is that not the main thing for a striker; scoring goals!!!! He is not the one who has to open defenses, no he is the one that should be send behind the back of the defense. Okay his first touch might not be that good, but as long as he scores goals (and I’m sure he will under KK) then I don’t care if his girst touch is not always that good.
James
Jan 25, 2008 at 3:04 PM
Comment #27Obafan – I know I have no change of making you see sense with Oba because of your log in name on here. But I will try anyway 🙂
1. When asked to play in a position he often wonders around, instead of using dicipline
2. He takes 5 chances to score one.
3. He never ever pulls defenders out of position for other players to run into space.
4. When he should release it early, he holds onto it and loses position.
Don’t get me wrong, he should be allowed to stay and work with Shearer to improve. My point is that he will never be world class. World class strikers very rarely miss.
Nobby's dad
Jan 25, 2008 at 8:15 PM
Comment #28Oba World Class!! I love the bloke – but talking World Class is ridiculous. U want to see World Class watch Kaka / Berbatov. He’s not even on a par with say Robbie Keane – and he’s not World Class. He hasn’t got what it takes – will NOT improve as he’s 22 already and frankly some of the people saying he’s this that and the other musn’t be watching him live!