Radja Nainggolan has branded the reasons for his continued exile from the Belgium national team “pathetic” and added that he won’t consider playing for his country again even once Roberto Martinez is no longer the coach.
Martinez controversially omitted Nainggolan from his 23-man squad for last summer’s World Cup, insisting that his reasons for doing so were “tactical”, but some suggested that the midfielder’s lifestyle and refusal to be a role model were connected to his relegation from the group.
Nainggolan insisted in May that Martinez had been looking for a reason not to select him for the tournament, and is adamant that he will not go back on his decision to rule himself out of the Belgium reckoning.
“I'm not going back to the national team again,” Nainggolan told ESPN. “I said that if I don't go to the World Cup, I'll quit, and I'm a man of my word. I play my football here [at Inter], with lots of love for what I do, but I have a different life outside of here.
“If they change the coach tomorrow and he says: 'come on, come on' -- it's still no. Because when I make up my mind, I stick to it. It's not like I say I'm not interested while this coach is in charge -- for me, when I say it's over, it's over because I've thought it through well.
“There were the excuses [for not picking me], but they were all pathetic. Why was I playing 50 games for Roma if I was leading the same life [I was being criticised for]?
“I think it's wrong when people say things without speaking to me first. You've got to say things to my face, we can have a talk and then we shake hands and you don't call me up again but I've got more respect for you than somebody who doesn't do that.”
Nainggolan brought to an end years of speculation linking him with a move to the Premier League by leaving Roma to join Serie A rivals Inter Milan last summer.
Manchester United and Chelsea both expressed an interest in signing him during his four-year stint in the Italian capital, but Nainggolan insisted he has no regrets about his career choices.
“In Italy, you live really well – I like the culture and way of life here,” he explained. “Chelsea offered me more money [in the summer of 2017] and they are a big club, yes.
“But I'm interested in waking up in the morning in a place where I feel good and, at the age of 29, winning back all the respect I'd worked 12 years to earn in Italy was not for me.
“There was Manchester too. There were many things that I was not interested in at all. Of course you are flattered by the interest, but this is how it is.”
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