Roberto Martinez exclusive: 'Belgium can handle golden generation tag - as long as the Premier League does not cause burnout'

Roberto Martinez laughs when it is put to him that he has such a talented group of players with Belgium that, as a club team, they would win the Premier League. Laughs but does not deny it. “I think we’ve got the talent, yes, to compete against anyone,” he says. “But it’s how we cope with expectation, how we can be a balanced team, how we enjoy the responsibility in a World Cup.”

Capable of winning the Premier League, maybe, but, can they actually win in Russia? Martinez has that “responsibility” of getting the best out of what he does not shirk away from calling Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ and to do so he will first face England in Group G along with Tunisia and Panama.

It was almost fated, it seems, that given the links between the Belgium squad and England – and between Martinez and the country the 44-year-old Spaniard spent 21 years in, building his career as a player and as a manager with Swansea City, Wigan Athletic and Everton – that the two nations would meet.

Ranked fifth in the world Belgium are top group seeds, a status that Martinez craved they achieved in their emphatic, free-scoring qualifying campaign, and we meet at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Moscow ahead of the draw to discuss his hopes, expectations and the pressure of being in charge of one of the World Cup favourites.

“I think when you say favourites there is a psychological door that you have to open,” Martinez explains. “A belief that we can win the World Cup. If a previous generation has not done it then it’s very difficult for a player to say, ‘yeah, we are going to win it’. 

“Everyone else, they can be great nations, but to have that belief they can win it they have to grow in the competition. That’s something I have seen with Thierry Henry (his assistant) and France. He’s had that experience (as a player). 

“He was going into that unknown (World Cup 1998) with that really talented generation. Spain was the same and then in 2008 when everything came together and they won that first tournament (the Euros). Then it is a lot easier. That door is open. That is something that is very important to us. We have to believe in our ability to do something that has not been done before in Belgian football.”

Martinez knows the weight of expectation and does not shy away from the tag of the ‘golden generation’ – something that the England of David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard buckled under. “Yes, this is a golden generation in terms of the quality of the players because they are fulfilling big roles at club level now and have developed a winning-mentality,” he says of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. “But World Cups don’t understand about ‘golden generations’ or big reputations. They understand about being a team and being able to perform. That is my biggest intention: to allow what we all call in Belgium the ‘golden generation’ to enjoy the responsibility they are carrying.”

The Red Devils shirt, Martinez says, does not weigh heavy. “It is not a fear at all,” he says. “It is something they really enjoy… This generation has got a talent that should allow the fans to get excited and to have a lot of belief. The understanding and preparation for a World Cup is overwhelming. There is a huge sense of responsibility and my job is to be 24 hours-a-day to make sure the players have the perfect platform. And international football is essential for fulfilling the potential of a player.”

Some of those are already among the world’s best and Martinez enthuses about the talent. Here he is on De Bruyne, key to the Manchester City “winning machine”: “What Kevin has is that level of execution up there with the best you see. He’s found a perfect role and has a really good relationship with Pep Guardiola. There is a lot more to come, with winning titles.”

And on Manchester United’s Lukaku: “Romelu has done fantastically well but he knows he has to cope with the extremes of criticism. He’s a number nine and when his last action ends up with the ball hitting the back of the net he will be a hero and the best in the world. And when that ball gets stopped by the keeper or hits the post he is going to be the biggest target to be criticised. He’s an incredible goal-scorer with attributes that not many strikers have.”

Then Chelsea’s Hazard: “Eden brings that calmness. It almost feels that when he gets the ball everything goes under control. He has got that capacity of stopping the tempo of the game. He’s a match-winner at a level that not many people are.”

And finally on captain Vincent Kompany:  “Now I can see him keeping himself fit until the end of the season and I can see Manchester City doing a really good job with the day-to-day work and we work closely with them. The good thing about Vinnie is that he could be a year out and then, with his intelligence, when he’s on the pitch it seems like he’s never been away.”

Just reeling off a few names shows it is an incredibly potent line-up with the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele also playing in England where Martinez’s greatest concern – as is Gareth Southgate’s – being Premier League burn-out.

“I can see the demands on the players and there is a concern,” Martinez says. “When you are in the Premier League you don’t see beyond your own competition but it’s a big difference when you go to Spain, Italy, France, Germany where the players have a (winter) break, mentally more than anything, they are different. They have that chance to react and then go again.”

It is working with the Belgium players – rather than being an international coach – that attracted Martinez to the job. “I’m only young in coaching years but after 265 consecutive games in the Premier League I wanted to be part of this because of this generation,” he states. “I don’t think I wanted to be in international football. It wasn’t I wanted to be an international coach. It is that I wanted to work with this group of players. I had an incredible curiosity about them.”

He will, obviously, review his position after the World Cup. “We will sit down with the federation and make a decision about the next chapter,” Martinez says. “Always in my career I never had a plan about myself, it’s been about the project in hand and where it takes us. But it’s important to have been involved in international coaching. The World Cup is the reason why I did it and everything stops for this tournament.”