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Roberto Martinez issues challenge to Belgium players to impress him

Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has said he is giving everyone a "fresh start" with the national team and wants new players to impress him this season.

Martinez, 43, was appointed to the role last week after Marc Wilmots was sacked following Belgium's Euro 2016 quarterfinal exit at the hands of Wales.

The former Everton boss said on his arrival in Belgium that he wanted his team's mentality to improve and on Sunday he promised that he would be open to players forcing their way into his thinking.

"When you start in a new regime like mine, every player's got an opportunity," he told Play Sports at half-time in the Gent-Genk game on Sunday.

"It's a fresh start. I want to be impressed. I want to see Belgian players -- that they want to represent their national team.

"If that's the case, I'm quite open-minded to allow players to come in from fresh.

"But at the moment the squad is really strong and it's [about] making sure that the partnerships, the desire and the moments of form are there for them to represent our team."

Martinez watched Simon Mignolet and Divock Origi in action for Liverpool on Saturday during their 4-0 win over Barcelona at Wembley.

He then travelled back to Belgium to check in on the form of Gent's Sven Kums and Laurent Depoitre in their 1-0 win over Genk.

"At the moment it's important that I get to see all the players -- the moments of form that they have," he said.

"I had the opportunity [Saturday] already at Wembley to watch two of our national team players and I'm going to follow every player."