Mark van Bommel will announce his first squad as Belgium coach on Friday, but he is already having to deal with several tricky issues in the build-up. One of them is the goalkeeping dossier.
He now knows he can no longer count on Matz Sels. The 34-year-old Nottingham Forest goalkeeper no longer wants to return to the Belgium national team. A conversation with Van Bommel did not change that.
"The new coach Mark van Bommel made a round of calls to several potential Red Devils. Matz Sels also spent considerable time on the phone with Van Bommel," Het Nieuwsblad writes. "That was reportedly a good conversation in which it was sounded out whether the goalkeeper was still available for the national team. Van Bommel was certainly open to that."
From Sels' side, however, there is no longer any interest. The goalkeeper made his decision after a painful spell under previous coach Rudi Garcia. Sels produced five strong matches at the time, but Garcia still left him out of the World Cup squad in favour of the younger Mike Penders. Garcia's phone call came only a few hours before the official announcement of the squad.
Those events left their mark on the 13-cap international. Sels did not receive a detailed explanation and had not expected to miss out on the World Cup squad, especially because the Belgian football association had specifically asked him to continue with the national team after Koen Casteels had previously withdrawn.
So his international career ends after 11 years. The presence of Thibaut Courtois also plays a part in his decision. The Real Madrid goalkeeper has withdrawn from the Nations League, but will be available again afterwards for the European Championship qualifiers and major tournaments. That means another goalkeeper again risks missing out on a place at a European Championship or World Cup.
For Sels, that is no longer a risk worth taking. Van Bommel will therefore have to turn to other names in his first squad as Belgium coach on Friday. Senne Lammens, Manchester United's goalkeeper, appears the undisputed choice in Courtois' absence. Penders (Chelsea), Maarten Vandevoordt (RB Leipzig) and Lucca Brughmans (loaned by Liverpool to RC Genk) appear to be the other candidates.