West Ham fans, let’s take you back to 2016, back when you had just signed a young Spaniard by the name of Toni Martínez.
Arriving from Valencia, the young striker was expected to go in the reserves and eventually fight for a spot in the first-team.
However, that never happened, as over the next four years, Martínez only made three appearances for West Ham, all of which came during a 20 days spell in the FA Cup back in 2018.
In those four years, he also spent time on loan at Oxford United, Real Valladolid, Rayo Majadahonda and CD Lugo before signing for Famalicão on a free last summer.
A year, 40 appearances and 14 goals later, he was signed by FC Porto, seeing him being handed the chance to play Champions League football against teams like Manchester City and Marseille.
Following the move, Martínez spoke to AS, who asked him about his stint at West Ham and how he felt about it.
He replied: “I’d say it was frustrating. Being realistic, I think there is no person in the world who can understand what happened. How do you explain to a boy who scores 43 goals in 40 games with the reserve team that he will not have an opportunity to play for the first-team.
“The club’s situation had a lot to do with it. In my first year, Arnautović arrived. In the second, Yarmolenko and Chicharito. They are high-level players for whom a great financial effort was made, and I had no place. It’s one of the reasons why I asked to be released”.
The player also took the opportunity to criticise the English reserves system, as playing just 12 games between his arrival and Christmas wasn’t enough, which is why he pushed for a loan away to Oxford.
Describing it as a ‘short but intense’ experience, Martínez reveals he enjoyed himself there, and he still receives ‘thousands of messages from Oxford fans’.
As for whether England changed him as a footballer, he said: “Undoubtedly (…) It took me a while to get it, but I ended up getting used to it and that made me a different, better player”.
