Sounders acquire Honduran international Mario Martinez on loan from Real Espana

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have officially completed the signing of Honduran international Mario Martinez. The 23-year old is currently at the 2012 Olympics with the Honduran national team and will join the Rave Green on loan from Honduran club Real Espana following the conclusion of the Olympic games. Seattle agreed to a deal for Martinez during the MLS transfer deadline last Friday, but nothing was finalized at that time and we were hoping to get an official word about the deal by Monday. We still didn't hear anything, but the only thing that matters is that the deal was completed earlier today and Martinez will be joining the team following the Olympics.

Martinez has been with Real Espana since 2006 where he made over 50 appearances for the club and scored four goals. He also made a couple of substitute appearances for Valerenga in Norway and has spent time with Belgian club Anderlecht. Now there are a few sources that say Martinez was a member of the Honduran Olympic squad during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. That's actually not true, he played for Honduras in the Olympic qualifying tournament in 2008 but he wasn't on their Olympic squad. I don't know if they were referring to Emil Martinez who was one of three players over the age of 23 to play for Honduras in the 2008 Olympics. Martinez has also capped 17 times for the Honduran senior national team.

To be honest, I don't really know anything about this kid, but everybody who has been watching the Olympics, who has watched any of his matches either against Morocco, Japan or Spain have said that he is a solid midfielder, that he's really dangerous on the left side of midfield, etc. I have seen a few of his YouTube videos however, and what I will tell you is that he has a great left foot, he can strike from distance and will be useful in left midfield for the Sounders. So I'm really happy with this acquisition and I'm excited to see him in the Rave Green.