The Sun News On-line

Newcastle striker, Obafemi Martins, may be making the best decision if he eventually embraced Arsene Wenger’s offer to move to Arsenal next season, as former Super Eagles player, Waidi Akanni, said the proposed transfer would change the fortunes of the Nigerian player for ever.

Wenger was reported to have placed a £15 million, (about N3.5 billion) on the former Inter player to further boost his attack, which has been a suspect after losing out in the Premier League title chase and the UEFA Champions League battle.

Wenger, who is also known as Professor, has tried Togolese star, Emmanuel Adebayor, after the daparture of Thierry Henry to the FC Barcelona.
Akanni, who is also the chairman Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) said a move to Arsenal would better the lot of the youthful player.

“I will advise him to grab the offer and move to Arsenal. Gunners coach, Arsene Wenger, knows how to transform players. Martins and his fans would definitely enjoy the move,” he said.
“Martins would be excellent for Arsenal because he has an eye for goals. He does not waste time with the ball. Sometimes Arsenal are guilty of overpassing the ball, especially in areas where they simply needed to shoot. The other issue, which may not be related to this but I would like to dwell on, is that players like Eboue and Hleb need to gain confidence, especially with trying to get goals for themselves. They are good at attacking pace and just when you think they will shoot and get the goal, they turn and look for someone to get the goals for them. This is part of the reasons why Arsenal have not been doing well.”

Akanni also believes Martins’ would justify his move because he is always determined to impress, and it won’t take him much time to break into the regular team.
Arsenal fans are already envisaging the fact that Martins may completely keep Adebayor on the bench, even as they also called for the services of a new goalkeeper.
Another Arsenal fan believes that the possible departure of Flamini, and maybe Hleb and Fabregas,... the purchasing of Martins will not be enough to shape up the team.

“I like the idea of Martins coming to arsenal, but the problem is that will he be willing to come? Martins is a good player but, having said he is happy at Newcastle, maybe Wenger should look elsewhere.”
Fast, powerful, and with a good eye for goal, Obafemi Martins joined Newcastle United on August 24, 2006, signing a five-year contract.

Martins moved to Tyneside from Inter Milan, where he scored 28 goals in 88 Serie A appearances.
It was the brother of another former Serie A player, Sunday Oliseh, who spotted Martins' talent early. That brought him to Reggiana as a promising prospect in 2000 and a year later Inter saw enough potential to snap him up.

After a hugely successful season with Inter's youth team, the immensely talented Nigerian forward made his debut for the first team, aged 18, in a Coppa Italia match at Bari.
Fast, strong and hardworking, Obafemi, nicknamed Obagoal, fits the bill as the consummate front man. It took him just a few matches after he debuted for Inter to begin his goal scoring heroics.

Oba secured Inter's UEFA Champions League quarter final berth in 2002/03 when he came off the substitute's bench (aged 18 years, 4 months & 19 days) to score a crucial goal against Bayer Leverkusen on March, 19 2003 (Emre was Inter's other scorer that night) and he followed that up with a strike against AC Milan in the semi finals of the competition.
Earlier that season, he had come on as a second half substitute at the San Siro when United drew 2–2 with the Italians.

Known to celebrate his goals with a spectacular sequence of somersaults, his goal celebrations at the BayArena didn't go unnoticed by UEFA, who decided to use the sequence of somersaults as an advertisement for the 2003/04 Champions League.