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Obafemi Martins pictured after travelling back to UK for major operation

6 years ago
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Obafemi has now had surgery in the UK after a serious injury picked up in China.

Playing for Shanghai Shenhua last Tuesday, the former Newcastle striker was stretchered off with what proved to be a ruptured quadriceps tendon.

The match was in the Asian Champions League against Kashima Antlers which ended 2-2.

The previous game on the Saturday had seen Martins score a hat-trick in their 4-2 league win over Hebei China Fortune.

Shanghai Shenhua have now posted on social media with a photo of him in his hospital bed (see below), saying the striker has undergone ‘successful surgery’.

With recovery time expected to be at least seven months, Obafemi Martins will be 34 by the time he stands a chance of playing again, not ideal to get such a serious injury at any time of your career but it will be especially difficult for the forward to bounce back in the twilight of his career.

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Martins had a successful surgery in UK

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The Mag – 4 April 2018:

Obafemi Martins put in an ‘interesting’ three seasons at Newcastle United and has certainly travelled the glove since.

Arriving at Newcastle for £10m from Inter in Summer 2006 when Glenn Roeder was manager, the striker was at times entertaining and exciting, though just as likely to be erratic and frustrating.

After relegation in 2008/09 he jumped ship to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg having scored 28 goals in 76 Premier League starts (plus 12 off the bench) for NUFC.

As well as winning the League Cup with Birmingham, Obafemi Martins has appeared in La Liga with Levante, before a successful time in the MLS with Seattle Sounders.

His latest club is Shanghai Shenhua, having arrived in February 2016.

Scoring 19 league goals in 27 starts, Martins scored a hat-trick on Saturday in their 4-2 league win over Hebei China Fortune.

However, on Tuesday he was carried off the pitch during a 2-2 draw with Kashima Antlers in the Asian Champions League.

Now his Chinese Super League (CSL) club Shanghai Shenhua have announced today [Wednesday] that Obafemi Martins has been ruled out of action for at least six or seven months with a torn hamstring,

The injury ends any remote hopes Martins may have had of making Nigeria’s squad for this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

However it could also potentially spell the end of the striker’s career altogether.

Obafemi Martins will have turned 34 before he stands any chance of coming back from the injury and for a striker so reliant on pace, you would have to doubt whether he will play again.

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