Tony Martinez has revealed that he had to leave West Ham United early in his career because they ignored the youth at the time.
Martínez, now 28 and playing for Alaves, discusses his career An interview with A.S.
west ham clash
The striker started his career at Real Murcia before moving to Valencia in 2013. He spent three years with them before a €3m transfer to West Ham's U23s in 2016.
Tony Martínez spent the next six years with the Hammers, but most of them were on loan, having stints at Oxford United, Real Valladolid, CF Rayo Majadahonda and CD Lugo.
His time at the club ended in 2019, when he joined Famalicão on a free transfer. He played for Porto and spent four years with the Portuguese giants, before moving back to Spain.
While his record was 32 goals in 140 games and had been good at other clubs, West Ham never gave him a chance.
Despite scoring 26 goals in 31 games for the U21 team, he was given only three appearances for a total of 220 minutes in the senior team.
No chance for youth for Tony Martinez
This is something that Tony Martínez is still, apparently, not too happy with. He believes that youth were ignored during his tenure with West Ham.
"When I first arrived at West Ham, the club was heavily invested in developing young talent. However, after the change in ownership, they started pouring huge amounts of money into the team." He said.
"And after that, it seemed almost impossible to make the team. Every single preseason, I would come in only to see that they had signed a bunch of star players to fill offensive spots.
"I had to compete for a place against players like Chicharito, Carroll, Arnautovic, Lanzini, Michael Antonio, Lucas Pérez... That's why, while I still had three years left on my contract, I decided to leave and go to Portugal."
conversation with pellegrini
Luckily for the striker, he found a manager in Manuel Pellegrini who was willing to listen to him. And the West Ham boss was open to the idea of contract termination.
"There had been a lot of loan spells by that time," He added.
"I lost a lot of money, but terminating my contract was the best option for me. Pellegrini had just arrived; I spoke to him and he understood my situation.
"I wanted to change the direction of my career but I was only being offered loan deals. I had a very good contract. But it wasn't what I wanted."
Now the striker can look back and feel that the decision was smart. He played his career in Portugal, where he won titles, four cups and the Super Cup three times during his tenure with Porto.
This justified his departure from West Ham, where it seemed he was never going to get the chance to stake his claim.
