Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis was heckled by fans in the street as he commented that Dries Mertens had ‘turned down’ the offer of €2.4m per season for a new contract.
The Belgium international is the club’s all-time top scorer with 148 goals in 397 competitive matches and had been there since the summer of 2013.
His deal expired on June 30 and no agreement has been reached to sign a new deal, although negotiations are still continuing.
De Laurentiis was heckled by fans in the streets of Naples this evening, but also spoke to a supporter about the Mertens situation.
“I offered him first €1.8m, then raised it by €200,000 and then up to €2.4m and he turned it down…”
Was it a one-year contract or more for the 35-year-old?
“He wanted to stay for one year.”
It’s worth noting that Mertens did have an option to extend his previous contract at €4.5m net per season, which the club refused to activate.
Instead, Napoli offered him less than half that salary in order to stay for one more season.
Mertens should come to the States and join an American team for lots of money. Hang around for a couple of years, bank it, and then retire and live a wonderful life. He deserved better from ADL
Why not Joel, his wife is desperate for media spotlights so LA would be fine. Joining the 3,286 other euro players.
From financial perspective, 2.4M/year is a reasonable number for 35 years old forward. The thing is ADL and mertens had an option to extend at 4.5M/year. Cancelling the deal and offering much less seem like spitting to the face. Napoli could have spread the 4.5M salary to 2-years deal, with bonuses tied up to result or appearances, and let mertens retired with the club.
What I don’t understand is back in January Mertens said he would be willing to “take almost any amount of money & length of contract” but now is refusing to accept 2.4M. He’d still be making more then a handful of players that arguably should be making more then him next year (Rrahmani, Elmas, Olivera, etc). Although personally I think the simplest solution is to set the roster that ADL and Spalletti are happy with then give Mertens whatever is left over for the budget. Whether it is 2.4M or 5M, it shouldn’t matter at that point if it is a 1 year deal.