Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
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Martins goes missing

14 May 2007 - 13:22:08

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Reports from the north-east suggest Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins has walked out on the club and looks certain to be playing his football elsewhere next season.

The news comes in the wake of caretaker manager Nigel Pearson's decision to drop Charles N'Zogbia from the substitute's bench for the draw with Watford.

The Newcastle Chronicle has quoted a United source as saying: "When the team reported on Saturday for training, Oba Martins declared himself unfit, even though the medical people could find nothing wrong with him.

"He didn't want to travel, but Nigel Pearson and Lee Clark, who were in charge of the team, told him he had to get on the plane and that he would have to undergo a fitness test at Watford yesterday morning.

"On Sunday morning he did not have a fitness test but declared himself unfit. He said that he had no intention of going to Vicarage Road, even though he was ordered to by the coaches as he was still a member of the squad and everyone should stick together.

"As a result, Martins did not go to Vicarage Road. He did not fly back with the team and at this moment in time nobody knows where he is."

The 22-year-old Nigeria international has scored 17 goals in 46 appearances for Newcastle since his £10million transfer from Internazionale last summer.