A week after Belgium announced their World Cup squad, it remains a mystery how they could find no place for Radja Nainggolan.
The spiky haired midfielder has just come off a fine season for Roma, where he played in the Champions League semi-finals.
And, it remains possible that the exclusion of Radja Nainggolan will dominate the discussion around Belgium for the coming weeks in the lead-up to the World Cup.
On announcing the squad, Roberto Martinez explained that he sees Nainggolan as an attacking midfielder.
Since the Roma star won’t be in his first team, Martinez feared Nainggolan could disrupt morale.
In a new interview, detailed by Nieuwsblad, Roberto Martinez has gone into great length to explain why Nainggolan did not make the Belgium squad.
Martinez said: “Selecting Nainggolan would have been a big mistake.”
The Belgium boss continued: “I knew that the decision would not make me popular. It would be much easier to choose differently, but that would be a big mistake for everyone.”