Obafemi Martins has been ruled out action for between six and seven months with a torn hamstring, his Chinese Super League (CSL) club Shanghai Shenhua announced on Wednesday.
Martins sustained the injury in Shanghai’s 2-2 draw against Kashima Antlers in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday when the 33-year-old was carried off midway through the first half.
The former Inter Milan and Newcastle United forward joined Shenhua at the start of the 2016 CSL season from Major League Soccer side Seattle Sounders and scored a hat-trick for Shanghai on Saturday in their 4-2 league win over Hebei China Fortune.
Tuesday’s draw means Shenhua cannot qualify for the knockout rounds of the continental championship, while Wu Jingui’s side are currently sixth in the CSL standings after four games.
The injury ends any hope of Martins’ return to the Super Eagles ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Coach Gernot Rohr hinted a likely call-up in an interview with KweséESPN in November 2017.
“Yes, the door is open to all our best players, including Martins. He is scoring a lot of goals and we need to get competition for all the positions, especially centre-forward,” Rohr said.
Ex-Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo, also told Vanguard recently that “I am not imposing players on Rohr, but I think the likes of Obafemi Martins and Austin Ejide can help strengthen the defective areas.”
Martins has 42 caps for Nigeria and was in the squad to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where he played in just two games for a total of 71 minutes, without scoring.
