“I have suffered a lot and have not yet decided if I will play again”

Jackson Martinez (Quibdó, Colombia, 3-10-1986, 34 years old) has given AS an interview in which he reviews the most interesting episodes of his sporting career, the ordeal he has suffered with injuries and what are his present and future plans.

The first thing I want to ask you is if you are going to play soccer again and if there are or have been any real possibilities of returning to Independiente de Medellín, where you started.

I've been off the pitch for a few months, since I ended my contract with Portimonense and it is already thought that I have left football, but I have not made that decision yet. In December I will go back to training and when I feel what my state is, after the injuries I have had and that have deprived me of having a certain regularity in recent years, I will decide if I can play football again or not. It is true that Independiente de Medellín's option was very close to being realized, but it was not finally closed due to different circumstances.

Exactly what injury are you suffering from?

I seriously damaged the cartilage of my ankle and bone edema formed that has not allowed me since 2015 to have some regularity when it comes to training and playing.

And how are you at the moment of the injury ?; Are you going to train alone or with a team?

From the injury I am not fully recovered, although this time that I have not played has been very good for me. I've been doing solo workouts, but low impact. I have felt a considerable improvement and I hope to continue evolving.

If you decide to play football again based on how you feel, will it be in your country, in South America, in Europe …?

I have not decided yet. First I have to see how I respond when I increase the level of training, because I don't want to be in the state of suffering as before, because I have suffered a lot, and later, when a team wants to sign me, they will have to analyze me medically. This is another step that I am aware of. I would like to play a final year, even though the medical recommendation is that I don't.

Your passion for music has been known for some time and you have even released an album with a religious theme. Why did you decide to turn your life around?

But it is not something that has emerged now, the subject of composing and singing songs I have done since I was 10 years old. I have never wanted to mix my passion for football with music, but in the two years that I was practically without playing, because of the surgeries for my injury, I did sit down to write and compose more and from there it came out that, in 2018 , I will release my first album (titled 'I will not fear') with seven songs.

Let's review your football career. After shining in Colombia and then in Mexico, you made the leap to Europe, to Porto, in 2012. Why Portugal and what other offers did you discard? Because at that time you were already an emerging and sought-after forward.

I was close to going to some clubs in the English Premier and in the German Bundesliga, but the negotiations were not fruitful. I chose Porto because it is a club that has had great Colombian players in recent years (Wason Renteria, Fredy Guarín, Falcao, James Rodríguez, Héctor Quiñones and, currently, Luis Díaz and Matheus Uribe), I saw the evolution of all of them and I knew that I was also going to grow in the team, as it was, because I performed at my highest level ever.

At Porto you became one of the best strikers in Europe and Atlético decided to hire you in 2015 for more than 36.75 million euros. How do you remember the signing?

I arrived with a tremendous illusion and I noticed that Cholo Simeone had it too. He told me that he believed in everything he could give Atlético and tried to make me the player he needed, but I couldn't respond or fit into the system due to various circumstances. I'm not going to make excuses, but I would have liked things to have turned out differently. Still, I am very grateful to the Atlético fans, who always showed me their love. It was a shame that when I was most feeling that I fit in, I got injured.

Your arrival caused great enthusiasm in the Atlético de Madrid fans, but you only stayed for six months. What was missing for the great Oporto's Jackson Martínez to be seen at Atlético?

Stay and play more… When a club hires a player it is because they know what they are going to contribute and you have to be patient, but I didn't have that opportunity and I told ‘Cholo’ Simeone that way. I told him “give me games that I will answer you”. I had come from playing permanently at Porto, but it happened to me that the beginning was difficult. I respected his way of thinking, but between us there was no difference or anything …

How was your relationship with Simeone really, do you think he had faith in you?

I didn't have a bad relationship with Simeone. Obviously he has his character, I have mine, and there may be clashes, as there may be between colleagues, but it is false, how I got to listen and read, that I had problems or I fought with him. If it had happened, I would have said it, but it didn't. I respected my departure from Atlético, I have my own opinion, but there are details that people don't know, only the people who were in the negotiation to leave the club know. I made the decision, but why I made it is key in my departure. I am very grateful to Atlético, I follow him, because I also have a great friendship with Héctor Herrera, and I want him to do very well.

Do you think it is difficult for a forward to adapt to Simeone's scheme?

No, because others have. I had come from playing in a different league and in a different system, and I was in the process of adapting to that of Cholo and the Spanish League. There have been, there are and there will be players who succeed in one team and when they go to another it does not happen, and vice versa.

In February 2016 you go to China, to the Evergrande Guangzhou. Why, if you wanted to stay at Atlético?

Nobody forced me. As I have said, the decision was mine, but there were situations that are unknown, and I am not going to reveal them unless I hear or read things that do not correspond to reality, then I will give details. I am a man of my word. In the same way that when I decided to go to Atlético I fulfilled it, even though I had other options, it was the same on my way to China. My move to Evergrande Guangzhou was a financial opportunity, but I didn't leave for that alone, in fact I gave up amounts that belonged to me. I have to say that I had other options besides going to China, but they were not accepted by Atlético.

Was it impossible for you to stay at Atlético de Madrid?

No, but I knew in what conditions I was going to stay.

How was your life in China, personal and sporting?

I came to a different culture, but what I found was different from the perception I had previously from what I had seen on television or on video. China is a highly developed country, but the Chinese citizen works too hard and too hard. And on a sporting level, it went wrong, because after the first 15 games I had another relapse that worsened the injury (a standing neck sprain) that I had with the Colombian team against Chile when I was at Atlético. When I was injured the first time I had to have surgery and I don't know why it wasn't done if I needed it. When I relapsed in China, I did go under the knife for the first time (in November 2016 he had ankle surgery, again in Portugal), I returned to training after two weeks, I played again, but suddenly again … (in July of 2017 was operated on for the second time for a foreign body in the heel). They were two years of real suffering, of a very painful ordeal.

Where were you less happy, in Madrid or in China?

I find my happiness in God, the rest for me is an addition. But on a sporting level, which is what you're asking me, I haven't been happy since 2015. When I came back after having surgery for the second time, I knew it wasn't right, but I didn't imagine it was that bad. After that second injury, I understood the magnitude of the problem I had. But I have not become depressed, on the contrary, it has strengthened me and I have valued more other things that I did not do before.

What has depressed you the most, that you have been doubted, your ability since you had to leave Atleti, or the continuous injuries you have had?

Doubts about my ability don't bother me that much because I've proven myself for a long time. The worst have been, without a doubt, the injuries. After two years practically without playing I went to Portimonense, to a small club in the Portuguese league, to grow again, to feel like a footballer again. He was playing at sixty percent, because he couldn't sprint without pain; when he jumped, he had to land on his right foot … That was the first season, but the second was even more difficult. I couldn't even sleep after every game. Now is when I sleep well.

You have followed a path very similar to Falcao's. Has the constant comparison with him been a pressure for you?

No, what happens is that in Porto, when I arrived, I scored early, in the first game that was a final, the Portuguese Super Cup, and that helped my confidence and dispel doubts, because when I arrived, many did not know me , but at Atleti it was not like that, and people got impatient.

How are you seeing Atleti so far this season, do you think they have a chance to aspire to the League and the Champions League?

He has a great team, without a doubt, and I want him to achieve that Champions League that he has had twice so close. It would be spectacular.

Are you surprised by the success of Lopetegui and Casemiro, with whom you met at Porto?

Not at all. When Casemiro arrived at Porto and I saw him, I thought: “How is it possible that he doesn't play for Madrid …”. He is a tremendously professional player and a very good partner; He is a leader on the field, where he leads whoever is ahead. And neither did Lopetegui, because at Porto we already realized his ability, and he is showing it at Sevilla.

I ask you about James Rodríguez, whom you know well. Does it strike you that he has not shone at Madrid with the opportunities he has had?

It is true that he had opportunities, but you have to clarify: people look at the games they have played, but what you have to see are the minutes they have played in those games. James would have been key in Madrid if he had had the ease that he is now having at Everton. He has a coach, Ancelotti, who knows what he can give and what not. You have to see how good he looks now. You were right to decide to go to Everton, because sometimes one step back is two steps forward.

How did James's relationship with Zidane look from Colombia?

In Colombia, people who know football and who saw him play love Zidane, and he is recognized as a coach, but in this situation they took him personally in my country, they criticized him aggressively, and everyone defended James , who held the situation with maturity, until he had to speak and say certain things, because it was already evident that he was not going to be taken into account. There were several years in which the coach did not have the player even though he had him in the team.

How do you analyze the situation the Colombian team is going through?

We cannot deny that the Colombian team did not do well in the last two games against Ecuador and Uruguay, but I still believe in the team, and all Colombians who love it, too. We are convinced that this situation will be reversed, because we have players to do it.

Those two defeats have caused Carlos Queiroz to be practically out as coach. What do you think of this decision?

It is a decision of the Colombian federation and I cannot give an opinion. The important thing is that with the new coach that arrives the objectives are met.

How would you define José Pékerman's legacy in Colombia?

It is true that he had great players in his charge, but he did an excellent job that led us to go to two World Cups. You have great credit.

Why do you think it is difficult for Colombian clubs to progress more in continental tournaments?

It has to do with the long-term structure of the clubs. Let me explain: clubs need to sell and cannot retain their best players, but if they were able to endure and maintain a good project, they would surely go further.

I return to your side in the song. What gives you to compose and sing that football has not done?

Express my Christian convictions without any qualms. The rejection that you can have for showing that you trust God, you don't have it in music. The song has given me another passion, to see beyond football.

You put out a seven song album some time ago called 'I will not fear'. How has the impact been?

But it is that I am not interested if it has had many or few reproductions, in fact the promotion of the album was not on a large scale, it was reduced, I am not motivated by profit, I only do it to express my feelings towards God and his word, and among the people who listen to this type of music it has had a great acceptance.

Do you plan to dedicate yourself fully to music when you hang up your boots or do you have other plans?

I do not know if fully, but I do want to continue composing and singing. Also, I have businesses that I could manage in a more personal way. But you know what I would like to do, study, that I have always longed for it, and when I retire, I will have more time to do it.

Do these studies have to do with the world of football or when you retire do you want to be one more fan?

I don't see myself as the coach of a professional team, but others said the same and today they are coaches. I am a player and from this point of view, thinking about if I were a coach, perhaps I would not have the capacity to endure many things. Now, I do not rule out being a training coach to inject young people with a passion for football and also to show them the frustrating reality that football often has.

Your sports life has been like going up and down a mountain. What decision you have made in your career do you regret the most?

I regret things that I did wrong, that were not correct on my part, but not the decisions that did not go well.

Thank you very much for attending us.

To you.