“I will join Newcastle on Thursday” - Martins

By Chris Baker
August 23 2006

Obafemi Martins has said he will join Newcastle on Thursday. The news comes after Inter Milan accepted a £10m bid from Newcastle earlier in the day.

The Times quotes:

“I will join Newcastle on Thursday,” Martins said. “I am very happy about this.”

Two days ago, Martins said to BBC Sport that a deal with Newcastle was "80% done". This was followed up with Inter's acceptance of a £10m offer from Newcastle, with the transfer set to be concluded with ease.

However, not long after the bid was accepted, SkySports revealed that Portsmouth were also planning to make a late bid, seemingly to better ours and snatch the player at the last minute. With new Portsmouth owner Gaydamak loaded with money for the club to spend, the news was met with some degree of worry in the North East that "Obagoal" may not head here after all.

These new quotes from Martins should go a long way to assuring fans that the 21-year-old Nigerian is well and truly on his way, and will hopefully be available to face Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa on Sunday at Villa Park, Newcastle's first away outing of the new Premiership season.