PORTUGAL: Jackson Martinez to leave Porto?

Portugal

Article courtesy of Colo Futbol

FC Porto’s Colombian international striker Jackson Martinez seems to be the hottest prospect coming out of Portuguese football at the moment being linked with a move to the Premier League with Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

The in-form hitman has a fantastic record as time of writing with of 23 goals in the league this season in only 18 games, so it is no surprise he has garned some interest.

The connection with Manchester United is an interesting one because there have been plenty of stories recently, linking Sir Alex Ferguson’s side with attacking players this summer. The latest story to come out of Old Trafford is that there has been an agreement already complete to take Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao to Manchester.

For Martinez, if he were to move to the English Premier League then it looks more likely it would be to either Liverpool or Spurs. Liverpool are looking to add more firepower to the trio of Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Fabio Borini.The stumbling block for any English side’s interest in Martinez will be for financial reasons. He is likely to cost well over the £20 million mark, and if a Russian club like Anzhi Makhachkala get involved in the bidding war, the Premier League clubs may struggle to compete especially when reports coming of Russia have suggested that Anzhi could make a bid of just under double that figure.

The unfortunate reason why a black player like Jackson Martinez may not be willing to move to Russia is the dreadful racist abuse the majority of black players suffer in the stadiums. This may be an main reason for Jackson to say no to the megabucks especially when international team mate Carlos Darwin Quintero suffered this abuse in his time at Krylia Sovetov in 2007. A spell in the Russian Premier League only lasted half a season and eleven games for him.

But given all of the hype and for this player, one things is for sure, with the Colombian international scoring 23 in 18 in the League, his current club Porto will want to hold onto him for as long as possible.

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