ROBERTO Martinez has always had an eye for Scottish talent. Not only does the former Motherwell midfielder usually secure the signature of one or two natives of the country where he spent a happy if complicated season at Fir Park back in 2001-02, he has also entered into a long-term contractual agreement to live with another one. His wife Beth.

That family connection drags him to back to Lanarkshire area from his house in Brussels for a holiday at least once a year but this season there is an additional excuse for a weekend break, in Friday’s international friendly between Belgium and Scotland. Whether it is tranquil walks by Scotland’s lochs or some of our local delicacies, Martinez has learned to savour many aspects of Scottish life over the years. “I must admit it, I do like haggis,” he said. “Although I don’t want to talk about the composition, how it is made!”

The match will be a friendly in the true sense of the word, with Martinez’s popularity in Scotland only enhanced by the fact he masterminded the defeat of England twice in the same World Cup. Even if it didn’t make him uniformly popular in his own house. “My daughter Luella is English, my wife is Scottish and I am Spanish so we had our own mini Nations League going on,” he said.

“Obviously, my wife I Scottish all the family from that side are still up here too,” the Spaniard added. “So I come up here a lot. And I am a big fan of Scottish football. I have been so fortunate to get such quality individuals like James McArthur, Gary Caldwell, Shaun Maloney. They were always very important in our teams.

“There will always be individuals in Scottish football of the highest level. When I first saw Andy Robertson playing for Dundee United [when he was Everton manager] I was instantly attracted to his potential.”

Maloney, of course, is one Scot which Martinez has always sworn by. Plucked from Celtic for Wigan at pretty much the peak of his powers, the little attacker sent over the injury time corner which was met by Ben Watson’s forehead as the Latics shocked Manchester City to win the 2013 FA Cup. So perhaps it isn’t a surprise that Martinez wants him in his corner again. The Celtic youth coach was the Spaniard’s choice to join he and Thierry Henry in Belgium’s coaching team when his previous No 2 Graeme Jones took the decision to move to West Brom.

Martinez feels Maloney is a young coach with the world at his feet. And for the record, despite TV pundit Andy Gray putting his name forward for the Manchester United job in the event that the club’s patience eventually runs out with Jose Mourinho, the Spaniard feels he still has plenty to achieve with Belgium.

“Shaun is a young coach with a very exciting future,” said Martinez. “I played against him when he was a young player at Celtic and I know the expectations he had around him early in his career. Then he went to Aston Villa and it became very difficult for him for an adaptation point of view. So he went back to Celtic, matured a lot and then I was able to sign him.

“I saw him as a footballer with an incredible appreciation of the space and technical ability. And that is something that is very difficult to find. We played him in a very dynamic system and he produced outstanding performances from a technical point of view for us. He was a quick thinker and with that kind of intelligence and the experience of so many international games I think he can help a lot on the coaching side. His attention to detail is going to make him into a top coach and he is in the right place at Celtic. Brendan Rodgers believes a lot in him and has been good enough to let him develop his experiences with us at the Belgian national team. I think it can only be good for him, for Celtic, for Belgium and for Scottish football in the future.”

In a way, it is a wonder Martinez thinks so fondly about this place. The sum of his on-field contribution that year at Motherwell was eight starts and eight substitute appearances, his three-year contract ripped up one year in as Billy Davies’ side slumped into administration. That fails to do justice, though, to the impression he made on team-mates such as James McFadden, the one-time Scottish football wonderkid, now part of Alex McLeish’s backroom team, who he will encounter at Hampden. McFadden remembers him as a snappy dresser, already earmarked for management through his punditry stints on SkySports’ coverage of La Liga. “James didn’t like my dress sense?” jokes Martinez. “The problem is that I was always two years ahead of him when it came to fashion! No, Jamesy was a fantastic talent. I always remember that when he made his debut he was at left back. He got the first ball, went past everyone and got a shot in, I remember thinking ‘this guy could play anywhere’.”

In terms of his short passing principles, not to mention an early adherence to three at the back and possession play, Martinez has been in and out and back in to fashion. Make what you like of the Manchester United link, but it is worth pointing out that teams like England seem to have bought into his style of playing out from the back and at both Everton and now Belgium, he has proven comfortable at dealing with the very best players the world has to offer. As for Friday, Kevin de Bruyne is out injured, so that just leaves Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and the rest for us to worry about.

“Of course you want to win the tournament but we don’t leave with regrets,” said Martinez. “This is a very special group, the diversity and the quality it has, plus the responsibility they take in playing for the Belgium national team. It is very clear now - we cannot drop our standards. The standards which have been set need to be continued. We are also going to allow young players to come in and show they can help the national team.

Alex McLeish can only dream of those resources but Martinez feels Scotland have the right man in charge. “There is no doubt for me how impressive Alex’s time at Scotland was first time around,” said Martinez. “He has always been successful - able to to give his clubs a real structure, a real competitiveness, a real clarity. He has also been prepared to go abroad. He had his time in Belgium and you only need to speak to people around the club to know how highly they think of him. I have a lot of respect for Alex and know he is going to do a very good job for Scotland.”