Roberto Martinez continues to be linked with a return to Merseyside with the vacant Everton manager’s job.
The Blues are searching for a new manager after the dismissal of Rafa Benitez on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the defeat to Norwich City.
Soon after Benitez’s exit, Belgium boss Martinez emerged as a possible candidate to take over the Goodison Park dugout.
The ECHO reported on Sunday that current Belgium boss Martinez was under consideration for the role following Benitez’s dismissal.
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However, there have been conflicting reports regarding whether Martinez could be in the frame.
According to The Athletic , Martinez has received an offer to take over as Everton boss that would see him appointed on an interim basis, prompting discussions over a possible job share with Belgium.
But a report in The Telegraph has contradicted these claims, saying that Belgium have rejected an approach from Everton - adding that Martinez’s return to Goodison is “unlikely”.
Martinez was Everton manager from 2013 up to 2016, when he was dismissed and replaced by Ronald Koeman.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday in February 2017, less than a year after he left Goodison, Martinez outlined why he immediately knew managing Everton was “different” to any other football club.
“When you become Everton manager, you realise very quickly that it’s not a normal football club.
“The history and the success that the football club had in the past, will demand that Everton has to be close to silverware. You have to accept it.
“As a manager you have two options. You can go into it in the realistic way, when I arrived we had the ninth budget alongside Fulham and Aston Villa.
“You can be very realistic and say ‘that’s where we are’, or in football you can set the targets high.
“You have to embrace that past and you have to be close to silverware.”
