TUKWILA, Wash. — The book has not been closed on Mario Martinez’s time with the Seattle Sounders, but it may be reaching the final chapters.
Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said Tuesday that he expected the situation to be resolved in the next 24 to 48 hours and he did not sound particularly optimistic about bringing the midfielder back.
“There are two issues always, there’s the personal terms and the transfer or loan situation with the club,” Schmid explained to reporters following Tuesday’s training session. “Both of those situations are ones that Adrian [Hanauer, Sounders GM] is in discussions with them.
“It’s also the player. Where is the player? Are you here, hoping to be here, discussing terms or are you there, saying well, ‘give me the right terms and I’ll come back up?’" Schmid added. "It’s a little bit of desire, how badly he wants to be here. I think he’s a quality player, he has a desire to play here but right now we haven’t been able to resolve things at this stage.”
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Schmid suggested that visa issues for some of Martinez’s family might be further complicating issues.
“He was in a situation where he was married, getting divorced, was with another woman, had a son there, he was away from his family and that made it difficult as well,” he said. “All those issues put people into situations where decisions get made for them.”
In the meantime, Martinez remains with the Honduras national team as they prepare for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a tournament which concludes on July 27.
Jeremiah Oshan covers the Seattle Sounders for MLSsoccer.com.
