York City have released defender Derwin Martina, just four short days after arriving at the club.
York agreed a deal to bring in the 22-year-old until the end of the season, believing him to be the brother of Southampton full-back Cuco Martina.
Indeed, the National League even announced as much when they broke the news on their official club website.
However, it took just 81 minutes of one reserve match against Hartlepool for Minstermen manager Gary Mills to realise that he had been misled.
Martina, a Curacao international, was apparently at fault for Hartlepool’s winning goal, and was duly let go just days later.
This from the York Press:
[Martina] was then an unnamed substitute for Saturday’s 3-1 first-team victory over Eastleigh but has since left, with boss Gary Mills declining to elaborate on the reasons behind his departure.
Speaking after his release, Derwin also confirmed that, other than sharing a surname, he was not related to Cuco in the slightest.
He is not my cousin, he is just a friend
In my country, Martina’s a really big name so a lot of people have that last name, but he’s not my brother.
All in all, a clusterf**k from start to finish.