“Everyone knows we’re probably one player missing,” claimed Neil Warnock in his post-match press conference after Cardiff bombed out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. It’s safe to assume he was alluding to the striker everyone had hoped or assumed would be forthcoming in the summer, but never materialised.
The subsequent struggle for goals has only underlined the need for someone to finish the rare chances that they create. There is a remaining available option though, but they would need to be quick.
Cardiff have until the end of the week to make changes to their proposed 25-man Premier League squad and could still bring in a free agent were they to identify one. There is not much out there to be honest, with one glaring exception; Jackson Martinez.
Martinez is without a club, having been released by Guangzhou Evergrande back in February, who were struggling to pay the exorbitant wages they offered him in order to tempt him away from La Liga. Three years ago, he was one of the most in demand strikers in world football, off the back of 92 goals in 136 games for Porto. His reward was a 35m Euro move to Atletico Madrid, but it did not work out.
After six months there, Guangzhou bailed him out by offering him 12m Euros a year in exchange for a move to China. They did not exactly get what they paid for, with a return of four goals in 16 games, spread over a two-year, injury-interrupted period and his contract was cancelled.
So Martinez, one of the game’s greatest predators and a striker that has moved for in excess of £30m twice, is currently out of work and searching the globe for a suitable new club.
A deal was believed to be in place with Mexican side Leon, but the club’s sporting director was quick to dismiss speculation, stating: “No, no. We talked about it. The president has said there’s nothing in it and the team is fine as it is for now.”
Sporting Lisbon were also linked, but they then saw a chunk of their squad walk out on them following an attack on the club’s players and staff by a group of ultras at Sporting’s training ground after the side finished third in the Primeira Liga.
Match fitness will obviously be a concern for potential suitors, but chances are that Martinez, who is now the wrong side of 30, will no longer be asking for astronomical wages. It’s remarkable to see a player of his stature scrambling around for work and maybe this is the beginning of the end in his career. Alternatively, maybe someone will take a punt on him and given the right environment, will return to form and salvage his tattered reputation.
Back down here in the real world, it is very unlikely that Cardiff will be making any additions and Martinez is very much pie in the sky, but for the next few days, the thought of Warnock resuscitating the Colombian’s career for Cardiff’s benefit remains a very exciting and appealing fantasy.