ESPN Soccernet reports that Obafemi Martins is buoyant and enthusiastic as he returns to Newcastle after a disappointing African Cup of Nations adventure with Nigeria. Martins will be playing under a new manager after Sam Allardyce was sacked while he was in Ghana – and he has this to say about the chances of improvement under Kevin Keegan:
”He did a lot for Newcastle and all the fans love him. They call him ‘The King’ so I think it’s very, very good. It’s very good for him as well and we players are going to try our best for him, just to make him proud. Everything will have changed now, we have a new manager and he’ll have changed a lot of things that I don’t know. I think it’s not a problem for me to go back and focus on starting playing.”
Martins was marginalised by Big Sam in the first half of the season and the very first thing that the former Inter Milan striker must do is claw back into the starting XI, which won’t be too easy.