Championship - Martins 'skint' on £75,000 a week

Eurosport - Fri, 20 Nov 14:09:00 2009

Former Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins was broke despite earning £75,000 a week, a High Court judge has been told.

2009 Newcastle United Obafemi Martins - 0

Martins was "constantly overdrawn" and regularly blew £40,000 in a weekend before withdrawing another £25,000 on Monday, the court heard.

The 25-year-old is being sued by his former agent, Chris Nathaniel, whose company NVA claims it managed every aspect of his life and gave him cash advances.

NVA say he owes a £284,000 fee plus interest for managing his finances and other areas, and used Nathaniel in what Judge Richard Seymour QC described as "a Jeeves role".

Martins signed the a lucrative £75,000-a-week contract when he joined Newcastle from Internazionale for £10 million in 2006.

Robert Tennink, the lawyer representing NVA, told the High Court in London: "Despite earning these vast sums of money he was constantly overdrawn."

Martins, now of German champions Wolfsburg, owned a multi-million pound mansion in Darras Hall, Northumbria and rented a luxury flat on Newcastle's Quayside. He also had several high-performance cars.

The striker is fighting the claim. He was not in court on Thursday and the hearing is scheduled to last for three days.

Eurosport

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  1. Tony's a @#$%!!

    From gordon.smith999, on Tue 24 Nov 7:19PM
  2. Tony's a @#$%!!

    From gordon.smith999, on Tue 24 Nov 7:16PM
  3. i pity you so much but remember when your legs are­ tired,when you cant run again,it will be hard to come­ by all this kind of money,be wise,use your money­ wisely,besides remember that you were raised very poor­ and very bad for you to have poor mentality

    From Daniel, on Tue 24 Nov 12:14AM
  4. i pity you martins

    From Daniel, on Tue 24 Nov 12:10AM
  5. @Zoso Ouch on your behalf :) Touched a raw nerve, have­ I? Were you one of the diamond slingers Oba refused to­ deal with? Surely one doesn't have to be an agent­ to have an opinion, eh Mr. Zoso. Some intelligent­ comments from you might actually give us an insight­ into your mindset or opinion - if you have one. Perhaps­ you're only reflecting your judgemental nature - of­ course this is fair enough. Let's agree to­ disagree. As for hurling insults at me by calling me an­ '@#$%' - well, I daresay it takes one to know­ one, eh? If only you could type it right. God help you.­ I rest my case.
    Hope all goes well for Martins and he­ sees the need to surround himself with astute and well­ meaning people of integrity and not some rag-tag­ publicity seeking fly-by agency, who makes their­ clients so paranoid they don't wanna have to leave­ any money lying around. Oh well, they got fired in the­ end.
    @Zoso, have a fantastic week ahead - I know I­ will. And oh, hope you and NVA find another club to buy­ soon. (Ends with a wide beam of a smile,jumps and does­ a heel click!)

    From Tony, on Sun 22 Nov 4:02PM
  6. Just hord from a Nigerian Mate his Agent is a shakydan­ Banza Umoomoo banka wark that wern oot

    From SYD, on Sun 22 Nov 5:59AM
  7. tony is obviously martins agent - an arsehol e.

    From zoso, on Sun 22 Nov 1:43AM
  8. why do we{as an nufc fan} pay these mercinaries so­ muchy money. the people who run our beloved club dont­ know there elbows from there a rsoholes.

    From zoso, on Sun 22 Nov 1:36AM
  9. people who thinks obafemi is broke -- WERE NSE WERE YIN

    From ade, on Sat 21 Nov 7:10PM
  10. As his expenditure exceeded his income he should have­ felt at home at Sid James Park.
    Mad Medic, you are so­ right.

    From voiceofreason, on Sat 21 Nov 7:01PM
  11. Did i say something wrong? *sniggers* gosh i got­ 'reported' as i said the truth... there are ­ BUCKET LOADS of racist comments besides mine but as i­ made it against 'whites' i was­ reported..

    Shame though... lol

    From misbah, on Sat 21 Nov 4:02PM
  12. Why is Martins being branded an idiot for wanting his­ money every week? Did he spend it or invest it­ somewhere else? And if he told them he needed it­ because he was "skint" (so they say), that­ doesn't make it the true reason. Would you leave­ all your wages accumulating every week with some­ fly-by-night outfit (note: NVA is not a licensed bank)?­ Another charachter assassination by the media.

    From ftumch2001, on Sat 21 Nov 1:24PM
  13. Uhm is this true and which source is this news from­ because it is embarrassing if it is not true.

    From Akim, on Sat 21 Nov 12:25PM
  14. What a complete and utter K N O B !!

    From david w, on Sat 21 Nov 11:34AM
  15. Personally I don't believe anything said by players­ agents. They are leeches. If he was drawing all of his­ 75K a week and stashing it away somewhere else good on­ him. Better that than leave it with his so called­ financial advisers. He can't play football but­ he's obviously not daft.

    From KEVIN P, on Sat 21 Nov 11:18AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Lie! Lie! Even if na so e dey draw the money nko? What­ if e dey overdraw? How d agent go claim say e no sabi­ say all this chaddah dey comot..? Trust Naija boy­ sha,una forget say im mama die?? e do owambe for Ebutte­ Metta na,u sabi how many people wear ankara?? Na money­ d agent just wan chop o jare.

    From Okey, on Sat 21 Nov 10:13AM
  17. Actually he has my sympathy......75,000 a week is not­ that much to live on!! LOL.xx

    From selfpitycity, on Sat 21 Nov 9:26AM
  18. Interesting story. May seem a lost cause but I'd­ like to come to Martins' defence here. This debacle­ of being sued and all, has been going on since February­ of this year, ever since the relationship between NVA­ management and Martins turned sour.
    I'm not one to­ judge - but wasn't it the NVA folks the ones­ touting themselves as buyers of Newcastle United­ earlier this year in yet another publicity hungry rave?­ Questionable if you asked me.
    By the way, NVA was­ supposed to manage his affairs and broker deals on his­ (Martins) behalf - apparently. So then, were his­ affairs managed properly? Questionable if you asked me.­ It's a different thing altogether if the­ relationship turned sour and both parties went their­ ways - a totally different kettle of fish demanding to­ get paid for services not rendered - or indeed­ lacklustre type service.
    I would have thought an astute­ agency would have put things in order properly and not­ have to resort to mudslinging by way of a media blitz­ and court battles to recover alleged monies owed.­ Surely a 'Super' Agency like NVA would have­ well defined and stipulated modes of payment - eh?­ Remember something called invoice, pay-by-dates?
    Why­ did NVA get fired then, eh? A little bird told me they­ were more interested in introducing diamonds merchants­ to the poor lad (all for a back end fee of­ course!)

    Has anyone been on the NVA management­ website? Parading footballers you don't even manage­ on the website does not necesarily mean you know how to­ manage a footballer. Yet another little bird told me;­ the CEO is a club promoter and DJ by trade, thus his­ venture into rubbing shoulders with stars - laudable, I­ must admit!
    It'll be interesting to see what­ contract was signed or agreed with the footballer in­ question before all of this brouhaha.
    The tenure of­ the contract, apparently was for 2 seasons/years but­ NVA got fired before the first season ended.­ Questionable really. Perhaps Martins is not as stupi

    From Tony, on Sat 21 Nov 3:58AM
  19. 40k and 25k overdraft not 1 or 2 weekends but every­ weekend of his stay in england .yet the man that manage­ every ASPECT OF HIS LIFE knows notting on what is­ coming .ehm irony

    From ubokwueze, on Sat 21 Nov 3:56AM
  20. This guy has all his money stashed outside Europe , i­ noticed he lives a quite and vague life , i think he is­ getting his money as far away from the British Govt.­ and­ greedy British banks as possible , the last time I­ checked he was among the richest people in his home­ country , having more than 1 billion worth of local­ currency in intercontinental bank and oceanic bank­ which was disclosed by the financial regulatory agency­ in his country. I don't think he is broke ,he is­ just going to do the cry baby and claim he is broke ,­ Martins please spare us all the film tricks.

    From susan j, on Sat 21 Nov 3:42AM
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