Everton continue to be linked with Roberto Martinez and his future as Belgium boss beyond the World Cup looks a little uncertain.
The Toffees just haven’t been able to settle on a manager since Martinez was sacked in 2016.
Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard hae all had a go without much long-lasting success.
Lampard kept Everton up at the end of last season but recent results have been a major concern with one point from their last three Premier League games and four defeats in the last seven.
Everton target Roberto Martinez could leave Belgium job
Lampard isn’t especially secure in the job right now and Everton may look to replace him if results don’t improve soon.
One name that just keeps coming up is Martinez – the man Everton sacked over six years ago.
The Spaniard rejected an approach from Everton to replace Benitez earlier this year according to Het Nieuwsblad, seemingly wanting to at least take Belgium to the World Cup.
Het Belang van Limburg in Belgium now report that Everton continue to show a real interest in appointing Martinez as their manager.
Martinez has done a fine job in charge of Belgium, guiding them to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
This may now be Belgium’s last chance with this so-called ‘golden generation’, with many of those players ageing or falling apart injury-wise.
Martinez is out of contract at the end of the tournament and Everton may have genuine hope of bringing him back to Goodison Park.
A new £3million-a-year deal hasn’t yet been signed and The Sunday Mirror (20/11, p72) claim that Martinez has designs on managing in the Premier League again.
They also carry quotes from agent Jesse De Preter, who claims that Belgium are ‘pretending’ they want to keep Martinez.
De Preter claims that the Belgian FA promised a new deal before the World Cup but that hasn’t happened and there is a ‘negative’ feeling around the Belgian camp because Martinez’s future is so unclear.
“Belgium keep pretending they want to continue to work with Roberto Martinez, but where is the contract? They promised that it would be before the team flew to Qatar,” said De Preter.
“For six years he has not cared about his salary. There is a whole negative atmosphere around Roberto now. And the players are wondering what is going on too. It does not feel right,” he added.
There is now a real chance that Martinez becomes a free agent after the World Cup and the prospect of an Everton return will be looming over Lampard.
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