Louis van Gaal has played down taking over the Belgium seat just a day after the Red Devils crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the group stages, Sporza reports.
Van Gaal, 71, will be leaving his role as Oranje boss at the end of the year with Ronald Koeman taking over the hot seat but one journalist was keen to ask if he will make the short trip to Belgium to manage the national side.
Head coach Roberto Martinez has been leading De Rode Duivels since August 2016 where he has made notable performances including semi-finals in the 2018 World Cup in Russia but has failed the Golden Generation to a major final but have been world number one in the FIFA rankings.
It is understood that Martinez will be standing down from his role and after being asked about the role Van Gaal joked he will need to get permission from his wife first.
“A move to Belgium? I’ve already thought about it,” he joked before speaking about how he was not shocked by Belgium’s early exit.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “We also won twice against Belgium in the Nations League.”
“However, they have players around that I really like. But in my eyes it is always about the team. Look, they should have won yesterday and then they were just qualified. But football is not just about technique and tactics. There’s also luck involved.
“Belgium is a beautiful country, with very friendly people. Knokke is a beautiful beach palace. I’ve already thought about it, but then you have to convince my wife Truus,” he laughed.
“I can always make free decisions. But I’m working on the Netherlands here, we want to become world champions. There are still four games to go, after that we’ll see if there will be any offers. But I know that if we become world champions, there will be offers.”
GBeNeFN | Tom Phillips
