Out of favour Super Eagles striker, Obafemi Martins, has stated that he is not bothered after his exclusion from the national team for the bumper June assignments by the Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi.
Keshi released a list of 30 players in early April with Martins’ name conspicuously missing from the squad that is also expected to prosecute a friendly match against Mexico in the United States and the 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup in Brazil.
Martins has however revealed that he is not losing sleep over the development.
“It is the dream of any player to play for his national team but like I mentioned earlier, I was always going to respect the coach’s decision. I am happy at my club and I am not angry that I was not invited,” Martins said.
Meanwhile, Martins is now the fifth highest paid player in Major League Soccer (MLS) for the 2013 season.
He is also the highest ever paid player in the history of Seattle Sounders with an annual basic salary of $1.6 million (about N2.5 billion).
Former Arsenal player, Freddie Ljungberg previously held the record with $1.3 million (about N2.1 billion) at Seattle Sounders as highest paid player ever in the club history in 2009/10 season.
According to a statement by MLS players’ union, Martins is on the basic wage of $1.6 million per season and earn guaranteed compensation fee of $1.725million (about N2.7 billion).
Martins who has racked up 39 appearances and 18 goals for Nigeria last played for the Super Eagles on March 23 against Kenya’s Harambee Stars in a 1-1 draw at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar in a 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier.
He was substituted in the second half.
