Aston Villa were turned down by Roberto Martinez before hiring Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, with Het Laaste Nieuws claiming the Spaniard wanted to stay in the Belgium hot seat ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking last week, Kevin De Bruyne threw his weight behind an under-fire Arsene Wenger, insisting a World Cup every two years was not, in actual fact, a “bad idea” after all.
Now, if you’ll allow us to be cynical for a second, we have an idea why De Bruyne may have come to that conclusion.
The Manchester City talisman will be 31 by the time Belgium travel to Qatar next year.
Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Dedryck Boyata, Thomas Vermaelen, Nacer Chadli, Axel Witsel, Christian Benteke and Thomas Meunier are all 30 or over too.
That means time is running out for Belgium’s ‘Golden Generation’ to finally get their mitts on some silverware. No wonder De Bruyne is open to the idea of shoehorning another tournament or two into an already packed schedule.
Is Steven Gerrard the right manager for Aston Villa?
It remains to be seen how Martinez feels about Wenger’s master plan but, according to HLN, the Rode Duivels boss has his sights firmly fixed on international glory in 2022.
It’s understood the former Everton, Wigan Athletic and Swansea City boss was Aston Villa’s first-choice target following the sacking of Dean Smith.
Villa even sent a delegation to Belgium last Tuesday to hold talks with Martinez, only to discover the 48-year-old had no interest in walking away from his current role with the Qatari World Cup just 12 months away.
Interestingly, Martinez also turned down the Villa job a decade ago, when still at Wigan.
Aston Villa lured Gerrard from Rangers just two days later, landing the former Liverpool captain – who guided the Glasgow giants to their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade last season – on a contract until 2024.
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