Exiting Everton under a cloud, Roberto Martinez landed fully on his feet with the Belgium job.
It may have been expected that after leaving Everton, Martinez would have ended up at a smaller Premier League club, or even a Championship team looking for promotion.
The idea of returning to Spain after leaving Goodison Park was also much reported, but taking over the team ranked 2nd in the world was not.
Lukaku has already explained that the players are aware they will be dropped if they don’t give their all, and now there’s a new set of rules.
Belgium’s DH says Martinez has distributed new rules, in English, to the Belgium squad. It sounds pretty simple stuff, with one rule being no smoking, but AS Roma’s Radja Nainggolan likes a cigarette, something confirmed by former manager Marc Wilmots.
Wilmots had previously been quoted as saying: “Yes, Radja smokes. It’s a habit in France and Italy, where many players do it. I am flexible on that level. It’s his body and as long as his performances on the pitch are to his best, it not a problem for me.
“I always try to give him a room with a balcony, so that the smoke detector does not trip. I think he’s the only Red Devil who smokes. If I didn’t allow him to smoke five or six cigarettes a day, I think he’d destroy his room. It’s his problem if he can only play up to 30 years instead of up to 35 years because of it.”
Under Martinez, Nainggolan will have to be careful, or smash up his room. There’s also no alcohol, and if a player is even a few seconds late for training, he’ll be fined €1000.
