Players like Sigurdsson are hard to find, says Belgium boss Martinez

Roberto Martinez has praised Everton star Gylfi Sigurdsson, stating that players like him are “hard to find” in football.

The Belgium manager was speaking ahead of his sides clash with Iceland in the UEFA Nations League and says Sigurdsson is a player that he has admired for many years.

Iceland competed at a World Cup this summer for the first time ever but were unable to make it out of a tricky group that contained Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.

Despite this, it was still considered a remarkable achievement for Iceland to even be playing a part in Russia and Belgium boss Martinez heaped praise on their star man Sigurdsson when asked about him earlier this week.

“Gylfi is a very good player and I had been closely following him for a long time. He did well at Reading, passed through at Tottenham, where he had to adjust and then he went to Swansea,” Martinez was quoted as saying by Gazet van Antwerpen.

“Everton paid €50m for him. Then you should not add much more, I think. He plays very well vertically, assists, plays well between the lines… Such players are hard to find. He gives everything in probably the hardest league in the world, the Premier League. Then you know how good he is.”

The 45-year-old coach led his Belgium side to the semi-finals of the World Cup before losing to eventual winners France. They pipped England to third spot and will be looking to go all the way at Euro 2020.

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