THERE was some doubt about whether Shaun Maloney had left his coaching job at Celtic when the news broke that he’s accepted a place on Roberto Martinez’s coaching staff for the Belgium national side.
That’s been cleared up though and the good news for Celtic supporters is that Maloney – who Martinez rates very highly as a coach – is staying on at Celtic and will simply combine both roles.
Suppose it gives him something to do during the International breaks!
“He’s deep into football and his life is about football,” Martinez told BBC Scotland.
His Belgium side, with Dedryck Boyata in the squad, are the visitors to Hampden for tomorrow’s friendly.
“He is someone that I really enjoyed having as a player. Already he’s brought something of his experience internationally and at club level; that is very, very helpful for our players and our way of working.
“He’s a man that has got a fantastic potential coaching career,” Martinez stated.
Martinez also spoke about how a country the size of Belgium with a population of just 11 million, has been able to produce so many excellent players in recent times.
Maybe the SFA should have a look at how they do it. The Belgium manager noted that he had 51 potential players for his squad playing for clubs outside of the country and obviously can look to the Belgian players in the national league on top of that.
“It’s very interesting that a country of 11 million like Belgium, over the last 15 years, has created a really solid structure of developing young players with a lot of technical ability,” he added.
“And probably the strongest attribute of players is that they can go abroad and adapt to other dressing rooms and other leagues and develop in the process.
“It’s a really good generation and a good moment to bring these players through. The talent of this generation is quite special.”
Maloney working with Martinez and Thierry Henry – who he knows well from their successful period together at Wigan – in the Belgium set-up can only be good for Celtic.
Here’s the Belgium squad for the game against Scotland – check out the quality in there, including Boyata!
Goalkeepers: Casteels (Wolfsburg), Courtois (Real Madrid), Sels (Strasbourg).
Defenders: Alderweireld (Tottenham), Boyata (Celtic), Castagne (Atalanta), Dendoncker (Wolves), Kompany (Manchester City), Meunier (PSG), Vermaelen (Barcelona), Vertonghen (Tottenham).
Midfielders: Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Dembele (Tottenham), Chadli (Monaco), Vanaken (Brugge), Tielemans (Monaco), Verstraete (Gent), Witsel (Borussia Dortmund).
Forwards: Batshuayi (Borussia Dortmund), E Hazard (Chelsea), T Hazard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Lukaku (Manchester United), Mertens (Napoli), Trossard (Genk).
