Birthday Boys- Luca Waldschmidt and Josef Martinez

In today’s edition of Birthday Boys we look through the career’s of SC Freiburg’s Luca Waldschmidt and Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez.

Luca Waldschmidt

Credit: Metro

The forward turns 24 today and has a very good start to his career especially with appearances in the U21 European Championships and performing fantastically in every game for Germany.

Waldschmidt had a few different youth teams which included the likes of Oranien Youth, Juno Berg Youth and Wieseck Youth before deciding to move to Eintracht Frankfurt’s system and stay there.

In 2013, the forward signed his professional contract for Frankfurt and made his first appearance for the club a year later in the 14/15 season.  He made three appearances for Frankfurt that season gained valuable first-team experience.

The next season, he featured 14 times for the club scoring one goal and assisting once. He decided to move clubs after the season concluded to Hamburger SV for around £1 million.

He made 38 appearances for the first team in the two years that he was at the club scoring three times and assisting on four ocassions.

He decided to move club again in 2018 with Freiburg signing the promising forward in July 2018 for around £5 million.

He’s had a bright start to his life in Freiburg. The forward has 49 appearances under his belt for the club scoring 15 times and assisting five times in the process. This move has worked out really well for Waldschmidt so far.

Internationally, he has featured at every single level for Germany from the U16’s to the senior team. He got his first international cap for Germany in October 2019 and has had two more caps to add to his name since.

Josef Martinez

Credit: Goal.com

The MLS goal machine turns 27 today and has been in great form for Atlanta United ever since joining them. Let’s have a look how his career has panned out.

In 2010, Martinez got his breakthrough for his boyhood club Caracas FC. He spent a year and a half playing at the club at senior level making 42 appearances, scoring nine times and assisting five times.

In January 2012, BSC Young Boys came in for the player and signed him for an undisclosed fee. He played for the U21 team and the senior team. For the U21 team he featured 12 times scoring 18 goals but, struggled in the senior team as he played 38 games scoring only three goals.

In July 2013, he went out on loan to FC Thun till December and he featured 32 times for the club scoring ten times and assisting on three ocassions.

In July 2014, Torino bought the young forward for £3 million, hoping the player would fulfil his potential in Italy.

In the three seasons that the Venezuelan forward was at the Italian club, he made 76 appearances for the club scoring 13 times and assisting on six occasions.

In February 2017, the forward went out on a month loan to Atlanta United with the spell being a good move for Martinez who made the move permanent in late March of that year.

He’s been a revelation for Atlanta and his goal scoring record speaks for itself.  In over 100 appearances for Atlanta he has managed to score 90 goals and assist on 12 ocassions. An ACL rupture this season has sidelined the player for most of this year but, he has missed little football due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Internationally, he has made 54 appearances for the Venezuela national team and has scored 12 times for the national team in the process.

He’s won the MLS Cup and the US Open Cup with Atlanta and has picked up individual accolades which include MLS MVP and MLS Top Goalscorer in the 17/18 season.