Two Names, One Transfer Fee.

By: Mauro | May 27th, 2008

Marcelo Martins Moreno of Brazilian club Cruzeiro, with eight goals in ten matches in this year’s Copa Libertadores, has been transferred to Shaktar Donetsk of Ukraine. The transfer was reported late last week with Shaktar exchanging 14 million dollars for the Bolivian international’s services. Cruzeiro will only see about 40% of the transfer since it shares the players rights with an investment group.

Only 20 years old, Martins Moreno signed a contract that will tie him to the Ukrainian club for the next five years and more so an opportune window into the world of European football. Not only is he going to play in the tough Ukrainian league, he’ll also have the opportunity to play a Champions League match or two next season as Shaktar have qualified for the Third qualifying round of next year’s competition.

In mid-May, Cruzeiro turned down a six million euro offer from Tottenham of the English Premier League for the young Bolivian and the club said that offer was below what they were expecting for their young star.

Martins Moreno began his footballing career in Bolivia with Oriente Petrolero and was then transferred to Vitória of Brazil in 2006. In March of last year, he was transferred once again to Cruzeiro and he was able to play this season’s Copa Libertadores with the club. His best match came in the group stage opener where Cruzeiro beat Bamin Real Potosi 3-0 and he scored the first goal. Below in the vid, you’ll find the highlights of that match.

His impressive performances in the Brazilian League opened the door for the first of many call ups to the Bolivian National team, with which he played in last year’s Copa America in Venezuela. He is also expected to pull on the green Bolivian National team jersey for their next World Cup qualifying matches against Chile on the 15th of June and Paraguay, three days later, on the 18th.

This transfer makes Martins Moreno the most expensive Bolivian transfer of all time and he is still at the top of the goal scoring stat sheet in the Copa Libertadores. Two weeks ago, Paraguayan Salvador Cabañas of Club América equaled his scoring tally in the international competition.

Martins Moreno was actually born in Bolivia to a Brazilian father and Bolivian mother. He played for Brazil’s U20 National team but as a professional had chosen to represent Bolivia on a professional level. In Brazil, he’s referred to as Marcelo Moreno, his father’s last name and in Bolivia they call him Marcelo Martins.

Either way, his style of play is most closely associated with Gabriel Batistuta but doesn’t quite have the positioning that Bati-Gol had. What he does have is an incredible shot. He’s able to to strike the ball in such a way that it appears to have come out of a cannon. He’s still has a somewhat young, slim, undeveloped build. Not unlike Roque Santa Cruz when Bayern Munich swooped in for him and has developed into quite the large complicated player to mark that he is today.

He’s a great pick up for Shaktar and I’ll bet he’ll develop into a great player for them with the idea of moving on to a more popular European club. Keep an eye on him in next year’s Champions League. Below is a video of his more memorable goals.