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Belgian FA will not tolerate Real Madrid tapping up Roberto Martinez

Martinez is believed to be keen on talks with the La Liga giants following the sacking of Julen Lopetegui and would be likely to accept an offer to manage at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez

Bengaluru, November 2: The Belgian Football Association has had no contact from Real Madrid regarding Roberto Martinez and would not tolerate any 'tapping up' of their head coach as per reports.

Martinez is believed to be keen on talks with the La Liga giants after the sacking of Julen Lopetegui and would be likely to accept an offer to manage at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Belgium head coach believes it would be the pinnacle of his managerial career, after he led the country to third place in last summer's World Cup, but the Belgian FA are keen on ensuring that Real Madrid do not tap up their manager like they did in case of Lopetegui when he was in charge of Spain.

"Roberto has a contract with the Belgian Football Association (KBVB) until 2020 and anyone intending to make an approach for the manager would need to do that through the Association in the first instance," a spokesman has told Sky Sports News.

After a horrendous start to their season, the Los Blancos are understood to be keen to talk to Martinez at the earliest opportunity after they sacked Julen Lopetegui on Monday and placed Santiago Solari in interim charge.

Reports also claim that Martinez's contract with the Belgian FA does not include a release clause, meaning Real's negotiators will need to agree compensation with his present employers to secure his services.

The former Everton manager's wages are unlikely to be an issue in negotiations. He presently earns around £800,000 a year, which is around six times less than Zinedine Zidane was earning during his time in Madrid.

Martinez, who signed a two-year extension to his contract in the summer, will want Real Madrid to carry out any recruitment process properly and seek permission if they wish to speak to him.

Over the weekend, when asked about the Real Madrid links, Martinez said: "I'm not here to talk about rumours. We won't waste our time talking about that."

Story first published: Friday, November 2, 2018, 14:28 [IST]
Other articles published on Nov 2, 2018