The £10m signing from Inter Milan refused to be a substitute in the 1-1 draw at Watford, with the 22-year-old claiming he had picked up an injury in training. But Newcastle's medical staff could not detect a problem and some of the Magpies' senior players gave the Nigerian a verbal dressing down.Martins Has Been Spotted
The £10m signing from Inter Milan refused to be a substitute in the 1-1 draw at Watford, with the 22-year-old claiming he had picked up an injury in training. But Newcastle's medical staff could not detect a problem and some of the Magpies' senior players gave the Nigerian a verbal dressing down.Martins vanished from the team's hotel on the eve of the game and United officials were forced to admit they did not know where the 17-goal top scorer had gone.
Martins failed to appear for Nigeria's friendly against Kenya a fortnight ago and coach Berti Vogts was furious and threatened to ban him.
But he will take his place in the Nigeria side to face Niger on Saturday.
Vogts, the former coach of the Germany and Scotland national teams, has issued a final warning to his star player.
The German has blamed poor training facilities and preparations for the shock African Cup of Nations qualifying defeat to Uganda on June 2 and has threatened to quit if things do not improve.
Martins appeared as a second-half substitute in that fixture and he has met up with the rest of the squad again ahead of this Saturday's qualifier in Niger.