Josef Martínez: the record man of MLS must return to Europe?

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The Venezuelan striker is on everyone's lips after his spectacular campaign in the United States, now many speculate with his return to the old continent

Venezuelan forward Josef Martinez, this year became the record man of Major League Soccer (MLS) reaching something unprecedented in 22 years of history in this league. Martinez was crowned champion with Atlanta United, scored 35 goals throughout the season (including playoffs) and was also the most valuable tournament and the final against the Portland Timbers.

Leer en español: Josef Martínez: ¿el hombre récord de la MLS debe regresar a Europa?

The striker, a native of Carabobo in Venezuela, said after the title: "It has been a dream year for me and the whole team to get the title of league champions. I just want to thank all the people in the club: the president, all the directors, all those who work in the club, from the security staff to the cooks "in words compiled by the portal Poramoralfutbol.

Marca Claro goes step by step and remembers that Josef's first achievement in the campaign was to overcome the 27 goals he shared with Roy Lassiter (1996), Chris Wondolowski (2012) and Bradley Wright-Phillips (2014). It happened before Orlando City and that day also, reached its ninth game in a row scoring goals, equaling the attacker Diego Valeri of the Portland Timbers, in that section.

Poramoralfutbol ensures that the most important thing is that Atlanta's commitment to VinotIGNORE INTO worked in both directions. "They surrounded him well and trusted him," says the portal verbatim.

This year is unbeatable, but in reality, Martinez's two years in the MLS have exceeded expectations. Since his arrival in Georgia for the 2017 season, he has scored 19 goals in his debut year, which, added to his 35 touchdowns this season, give him a respectable total of 54 touchdowns. A challenge for the Venezuelan striker was to win the love of a demanding fan like Atlanta, which covers the 70 thousand seats of Mercedes Benz Stadium and that in the final they responded with an attendance of 73 thousand fans.

A first step to return to European football, – if the player so wishes, and Martinez does not seem to be one of them, is to be ratified as a superb scorer, and the Valencian scored 31 goals in the regular season, and not satisfied with that, He squandered the scoring record for a full season (including postseason games), scoring 35, as we said.

Outperformed more bombastic names

With barely 25 years old, Martínez gave himself the luxury of eclipsing the most striking a priori names for the league, so his status in the world of football inevitably places him back on the old continent. Juventus and talent, something that could not combine in the Torino. Poramoralfutbol reinforces this theory with some important data.

Also read: Who is the former Venezuelan soccer player that inspired Josef Martínez in the Major League Soccer?

How was it more important than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney or Carlos Vela? Martinez became just the fifth player in MLS history to win the most valuable title of the season and in turn the MVP of the Final behind the legendary goalkeeper Tony Meola (2000, Kansas City), Carlos Ruiz (2002, LA Galaxy), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (2008, Columbus Crew SC) and Irish Robbie Keane (2014, LA Galaxy).

He also adds that Gerardo 'El Tata' Martino became a kind of father for the Venezuelan footballer, to make the most of it as 9 area. Poramoralfutbol says Martinez himself revealed that Martino was among the most influential people in his career.

Neither Zlatan, nor Rooney nor Vela for being younger, and who led Los Angeles FC to the post-season, could get what this Venezuelan despite arriving with the star poster to American football.

BBC Mundo also highlights the high percentage with which Martinez won the Most Valuable prize of the season with 47.93% of the votes cast among players, clubs, and journalists surpassing Paraguayan Miguel Almirón (teammate), who obtained 15.03%. Then appeared Ibrahimovic (11.6%), Rooney (7.8%) and Vela (5.29%), who completed the top 5

We still have not finished reviewing the achievements of Martinez, who also gave himself the luxury of nesting three hattricks in the year and being chosen twice as the player of the month, and continue scoring goals, two against New York City FC and another front to the New York Red Bull in the Eastern Conference finals.

These impressive figures increase interest for a possible return of the Venezuelan footballer to European football, where he could not succeed in five years between Switzerland (Young Boys) and Italy, although the opinion, is very comfortable in the United States. "I have said before that I will be here as long as they want, I am happy here, I feel at home," he said during the MVP ceremony, according to BBC Mundo.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano

Translated from "Josef Martínez: ¿el hombre récord de la MLS debe regresar a Europa?"