Responsible adult in an older team: Andre Martins arrives at Hapoel Beer Sheva

The Portuguese planned to end a Belgian-Warsaw contract and return to his homeland, but then he was “deleted” and a tempting offer led him to the capital of the Negev to help his family.

The midfielder, who is considered a "coach player" with an impressive resume, deserves to make an order and help Roni Levy win the championship - and do not be surprised if Joshua is involved

Inbal Manor

09/01/2022

Sunday, 09 January 2022, 16:45

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Summary: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Hapoel Beer Sheva 0: 1 (Sport 1)

In the middle of the 2010/11 season, Andre Martinez received a phone call that changed the course of his career. After two loan seasons in the third division, Sporting Lisbon sent their young midfielder to the loan year at Blanc, which had just been relegated, but Martinez did not get minutes of play and began to despair. "Come play with me. I believe in you and you will have a wonderful career. You will see that next year you will get more opportunities," the voice on the other end of the line said. It was Paulo Fonseca, later coach of Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma, then coach of Finanlovenza from the third division. Andre Martinez listened, took a step back and after half a season Funska's prophecy came true.

11 years have passed.

Andre Martinez, in a week and a half 32 years old, has already had a fairly successful career.

He became a significant player in sporting, appeared twice in the senior team of Portugal, won titles in Greece and Poland and now he comes to Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Roni Levy will receive a disciplined and experienced contact who has experienced great clubs and top struggles.

He will get a responsible and quiet player who should add defensive stability to the link, extract balls, win fights and cover for less successful professional players like Roy Gordana and Davida Petrucci.

Do not expect a virtuoso or a compatible Joshua.

Andre Martins is a player of a coach.

An adult in charge of a group of adults.

More on Walla!

Andre Martinez is expected to play with Hapoel Beer Sheva already against Maccabi Haifa

To the full article

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"Coach's Player."

The new acquisition of Roni Levy and Hapoel Beer Sheva (Photo: GettyImages, Visionhaus)

He was born in Argonsilla, a village near Porto. A small and modest family. "It has always been easy for me to respect the rules because my parents demanded that I go to bed early, eat well and be diligent at work and school," he said in the past. The young Andre made his first steps in the local group of the village, progressed to Florence, the largest club in the area, and at the age of 12 his father Vitor took him to a restaurant and asked if he wanted to move to a large club. Andre turned on and answered yes.

"Porto and Boavista, who are closer to our home, turned to my father, but I did not think about the distance," he said. Andre one Sporting Lisbon. One visit to Albalada as a child made him fall in love. He did not want to hear about any other club. "I replied that I wanted to move to Lisbon and play sports. He explained to me that I would be away from family, but I was determined. In my first three months at the academy I cried every day. I was really sick and refused to eat."

At the age of 12, Andre Martinez left the village, said goodbye to his supportive parents and baby brother and went to live alone at Sporting Academy. Orlio Pereira, known in Portugal as the "Golden Eye", came to his aid. 62 players who passed under Aurelio came to play for the Portugal national team. Figo and Cristiano are the standouts. Andre Martinez is also on this list. "If by Christmas you can no longer stand it, you can stay at your parents' house. If you are not a sporting player now, you will be later. Play in Florence and come on the weekends," he told him.

Andre did not give up.

Neither did his parents.

"It took time, but I got used to it. I met friends, went to school and forgot about the problems, but I could never give back to my parents for what they did for me. They traveled 600 miles to meet me every weekend.

Poured rivers of money on fuel to spend a few hours with me.

My dad once told me that all of Mom's salary at the factory only goes on travel.

I do what I can for them, glad I know I can help them.

Even today at the age of 30 plus, my father tells me that if I feel alone and need something, he will leave work and get on a plane. "

14 years at Sporting Lisbon.

Andre Martinez (Photo: GettyImages, PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA)

After three years in question, Andre Martinez was able to find his place on Sporting's senior team. Domingos Paciensia decided to keep him in the squad and gave him a debut in the game against Romanian Vaslui in the Europa League. "Boy, I want you to show me what you know," defender Joao Pereira told him and at the end hugged him and said, "You have marked your territory." The teammates would call Andre "Mr. Europe" because he initially played mainly in the European factory, but starting in the second half of the season, he also started playing in the league and with the arrival of Leonardo Jardim in the summer of 2013, he became a legitimate car player.

Under Jardim and Marco Silva who came a season after him, Andre Martinez flourished and also got to record two appearances in the national team uniform in friendly matches. "A player with confidence can do things he thinks he is incapable of. They trusted me and demanded a lot from me. They managed to bring out the best in me. Leonardo would come to me in training and say to me: 'Hey I dreamed at night that you score a goal'. Every time he was "Tell me that, I would score. I loved working with him and with Marco Silva," he said in an interview in Portugal a year and a half ago.

At some point in his career, there were those at Sporting who marked Andre Martinez as the successor to Joao Moutinho, the captain who left for Porto in the summer of 2010 and was dubbed a "rotten apple" by the president. Martinez grew up on Moutinho, trained with him and admired him, but was angry at him when he left. "I will never leave Sporting as he left. The club gave me everything and people in it always stood by my side," he said. But precisely after the successful two years, Georges Jesus arrived and preyed on the cards. In the entire 2015/16 season, which was also the last year of his contract, Andre Martinez was pushed to the edge of the bench and at the end of it left Sporting after 14 years.

"I've been in sports for more years than my parents' house," he said when he said goodbye. "It's a strong connection. I had good years and obviously I would like it to end differently, but things do not always happen the way we want ... From what I understand it was the coach's decision. I work hard for opportunities and it did not happen. I hope to get them elsewhere. ". Martinez was hurt, disappointed, but he is not one to pass public criticism. In fact, the exact opposite happened.

"Jesus did not try to mix me up. He told me, 'I have a different idea about our game and there is another player I prefer in your position.' He said he likes my abilities, but warned me not to play too much. To be fair, he The coach who promoted me the most tactically ... In the last training session he said to me: "If you do not find something you want, talk to me and stay for another season. I love your game, I will take care of you". For a player who hardly plays, to hear such a thing is A sign that you are a professional and work properly. "

Two appearances for Portugal, also represented at the Rio Olympics (Photo: GettyImages, Quinn Rooney)

In the summer of 2016, after playing with the Olympic team in Rio, Andre Martinez moved on to a free transfer to Olympiacos, where he joined his former national team coach, Paolo Bento.

He had one good year in which he won the championship, but Bento left and the players he brought became less desirable at the club.

An attempt to transfer him to Nottingham Forest, a kind of sister team of Olympiacos, was unsuccessful and he was again forced to transfer a season with a few minutes of play.

Martinez, we have already said he is a player of coaches, and at the end of the nightmarish season in Piraeus, there was again someone who came to his aid.

Ricardo Se Pinto, who coached him at Sporting, took him to Legia Warsaw after a summer in which he trained with the outcasts, was not allowed to leave the camp and was released from Olympiacos a year before the end of his contract.

For Se Pinto, Martinez turned down a more attractive offer than Trabzonspor. Initially, Legia Warsaw granted the player a one-season contract with an option for automatic renewal if he plays 50 percent of the games. The connection was immediate. Andre Martinez has become one of Legia's most significant players and won a second contract extension in the summer of 2020. "Andre Martinez is the face of the team, not only is he a great player and a true professional, he is also a great person," said Radoslav Kokarski, Legia's sporting director. Andre enjoys Poland. He felt valued and won without a little respect and love from the audience and the media.

"I love it. I have an important role in the team, in the club they love me. The city is beautiful and inexpensive. There are beautiful sites, museums, huge parks and good restaurants," he said. Along with Martinez, Legia has won two championships, but the season has completely collapsed and fallen to the bottom. With the team returning to training ahead of the winter break, coach Alexander Vokovic informed Martins that he was not in the plans and would not even go to the training camp in Dubai. "Martinez was wiped out by Wakowicz," it read in Poland. "Lately, he seems like one he doesn't feel like playing."

"The coach decided Martins did not fit the conception. He took him for a call and informed him to look for a team."

Also in his first term, Woko wanted to refresh and sent home some of the club's symbols.

"There is a claim that a black cat has passed between them and they are no longer getting along, but in truth no one is completely clear what happened there," it said in Poland.

One thing is clear, Hapoel Beer Sheva benefited from the situation.

In January it is difficult to bring in arrears.

In terms of the Premier League, a player like Martinez is definitely a bargain.

Compared to the Portuguese players who have played in the country, his resume Andre Martins is surely one of the most impressive.

Do not be surprised if he also has a part in the deal.

Joshua with Aliniv Barda (Photo: Official website, Hapoel Beer Sheva)

It is not inconceivable that Joshua, a friend of Andre Martinez Malagia and the young Portugal national team, had a hand in the quick deal. For the third time in his career, the midfielder who will soon be celebrating 32, will move for free to a new destination. It is possible to identify a particular pattern. It leaves a positive impression and then there is a decline until a somewhat sad parting.

The Legia.net fan site has already said goodbye to the Portuguese with a not very flattering description: "On the one hand, a technical player who works hard, on the other hand, disappeared in big games and took no responsibility. Half a year before the end of his contract, he was allowed to leave for free."

Beer Sheva gets a player who knows what the pressure of big clubs is and experiences championship fights. A relationship that has worked with senior coaches and despite dismal professional partings, has left the impression of a perfect professional. Aurelio Pereira, the "second father" of Andre Martinez, still calls him a "rubber boy" - one who does not fall or get hurt. Portugal tells the story of a smart, eloquent and modest guy, one who loves the game and less the glamor world. "I miss the days when I played football out of passion. I love what I do, but football rots. What happens behind the scenes is unbearable. As kids, we just wanted to play for love without thinking about business. Those were great times."

Martinez had planned to return to Portugal at the end of the season to be closer to family, but the opportunity to make another honorable contract was too tempting. His mother has struggled with breast cancer and recovery in recent years, and in general Martinez is very close to his parents and feels indebted to them for what they did for him early in his career. The money he earns is also going to support the family and it is important for him to have enough to do it even after retirement. Besides, Be'er Sheva is a group with ambitions that suits it. "Winning the championship is fantastic. I see pictures of myself celebrating and getting chills. Only those who have experienced it, understand."

By bringing in Martinez, Roni Levy wants to get a sort of matching Ali Muhammad, and on the way to spot fix a position where the purchase has not proven itself. Be'er Sheva is an older group of players who understand the pressure of competing for the title and in this context, Andre Martinez fits exactly into the profile of the players built. Like the other acquisition players who have arrived this season, he is coming for a clear short-term goal. Do not expect virtuosos, spectacular gates or magical cooking. In 128 appearances in Belgium, for example, Martinez scored two goals and netted six.

"Martinez is known for his energies and abilities to dictate the pace of the game from the engine room in the center of the field," it was previously written about him.

He is a player who plays a simple football of dedication and propelling the game forward.

Although he is short, the long period in Poland taught him to be aggressive and at his peak, he became one of the leading ball savers in the league. "In Poland there are very physical players, they lack personal ability and they compensate physically. I improved a lot in this field. "I like to study and not soup from football, but from all sports. If I think faster than my opponent, in 80-90 percent of the cases I can avoid him."

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• Hapoel Beer Sheva

• Andre Martinez

• Roni Levy