Prior to the past few weeks, you’d have been forgiven for not knowing who Venezuela striker Josef Martinez is.
However, in the past four matches the Torino man has scored three goals – his tally for the entire season.
In fact, he had been on a 16 game goalscoring drought before he bagged at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma to break his lengthy duck.
And with that, plus his brace against Torino two weekends ago, he matches his goal count in league football for the whole of last season too.
It will be a huge relief to the South American to finally get off the mark this campaign, considering he is very highly valued in his home country with a respectable 24 caps already.
He scored his first goal for the Vinotinto nearly three years ago to this day, although it wasn’t enough to keep him at Switzerland giants Young Boys at the time.
Thun was a stepping stone to a move to Italy, to the Granata where he has played a squad role thus far.
Although he’s slipped behind the likes of Andrea Belotti and Ciro Immobile in the pecking order in Turin, he still has a part to play and a lot of that comes to how he offers something unique to the team.
He’s adept at taking on the role of the battering ram, holding up the ball and flicking on passes to fellow attackers.
His supporting role means he doesn’t get as much of the goal action, with the likes of Immobile always going to snatch the limelight.
Martinez’s teammates speak very well of him, earning specific praise from Immobile recently, and it seems unthinkable that Torino will toss away someone who clicks so easily into the forward line.
