"I'm close to moving to Newcastle despite all the initial setbacks," the Nigerian international told BBC Sport on Monday.

"Eighty percent of the deal with Newcastle is completed."

The 21-year-old forward has been unsettled at Inter Milan for a while and the arrival of Hernan Crespo from Chelsea and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Juventus has signaled his departure.

Martins' representatives are in England finalizing what is reported to be a 10.9 million ($20.6 million) deal.

His suitors were plenty, especially from the Premiership, a competition that Oba Oba said he would enjoy playing in.

"Playing in the Premiership has been a long-term ambition and I am extremely delighted with the prospect of concluding that in the next couple of days," he said.