If there’s one thing that’s been made very clear by the vast majority of the Belgium squad who played under Marc Wilmots, it’s that they didn’t really like him.
The latest to come forward with his own story about the former manager is Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku,, who admitted to Play Sports he didn’t get along well with Roberto Martinez’s predecessor.
Relayed by DH, he said: “I knew I was going to play. The only problem was I also knew he didn’t want to play me.”
The Manchester United forward felt he was only selected because he was playing well rather than his manager believing in him, which every player needs, especially at international level.
In fact, his feeling of distaste for Wilmots got so strong, Lukaku would have rather stayed on his sofa than put on the Red Devils (the Belgium national team have the same nickname as Manchester United) shirt.
He continued: “In that type of situation, you tell yourself ‘f*** off, leave me at home, don’t pick me’. You play for your country for pleasure. I never said I didn’t want to play here, but at that time, I didn’t enjoy being a part of it: I didn’t like getting selected.”
While it was for different reasons, Lukaku isn’t the first Manchester United player to have felt that way about playing for their country, as Michael Carrick recently admitted to asking the FA to not pick him for England after the 2010 World Cup under Fabio Capello.
