Martínez feels less valued than Chicharito Hernández
The Venezuelan striker scored his first MLS goal since October 2019 and he feels he is not being valued like other players in the league.
Good news for Atlanta United and the Major League Soccer fans, because one of the best players in the league is back. Josef Martínez scored his first MLS goal in 18 months in the Five Stripes' 1-1 draw against Inter Miami CF in week 4 of the 2021 season. It took a little over a year for the 27-year-old to return to the pitch after suffering a knee ligament injury last year with Atlanta in the season opener.
Doesn’t feel he is being valued
Without a doubt, Martínez is one of the best players in Major League Soccer and he demonstrated that in the 2018 season when he scored 35 goals in regular and postseason. Atlanta’s No 7 also holds the MLS record for career hat-tricks with six in his first 44 games and the record for most consecutive games with a goal (15).
That year he was named the league Most Valuable Player, All-Star Game MVP, won the Golden Boot (31 regular season goals) and the MLS Cup Final MVP. In the 2018 season, Martínez led Atlanta United to their first league title in the history of the franchise.
"People think he's the best player in the league"
So after a long recovery from his serious knee injury it seems that he has returned, but he doesn’t feel like people valued him enough like other players who are fairly new to the league. “Javier Hernández scores goals and all of a sudden people think he is the best player in the league. I scored a goal and it was because the defender didn’t do his job. No one knows about my path to recovery, life is short and I have learned to enjoy it,” he said.