Dries Mertens could potentially follow Lorenzo Insigne to MLS and Toronto FC as a free agent after suggestions Napoli have no intention of extending his contract.
Both the captain and their all-time top scorer look as if they will leave the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as free agents in July.
While Insigne was only offered a new contract if he took a massive pay cut, there are reports in Il Mattino newspaper that Napoli have no intention of activating the option to extend with Mertens.
The Belgium international has said as much in recent months, repeatedly pointing out there is an option and the matter is out of his hands.
According to Il Mattino, Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis would already happily have sold Mertens last summer, but he remained committed to the club.
Insigne has already signed for Toronto FC from July 1 and he could now be joined by Mertens, as MLS writer Michael Singh notes the Canadian club had already made an initial approach for Mertens last year.
The striker turns 35 in May and is Napoli’s all-time top scorer with 142 goals in all competition.
Toronto FC and Dries Mertens held talks a few months ago and there was interest on both sides, per sources. Mertens wanted to see if he he could stay with Napoli, but given the situation now, I’d expect those talks to resume in the near future https://t.co/Zpe2A78F52
— Michael Singh (@MichaelSingh94) January 12, 2022
One of the best players in Serie A over the last decade. The fantastic professional.
If Zlatan can go at 40, Mertens can keep going until then too. Poor to leave him go – he’s scored 6 goals this season in that many games. Who replaces him?
Waw. Give him 1 more year at least!
This is absurd. Not only is he Napoli‘s all-time leading scorer, but he is their leading scorer in Serie A this season. He’s averaging 0.87 goals every 90 minutes. To put that into context, our second leading scorer is Osihmen (0.53 goals per 90). Mertens clearly can and is still playing at a high level and ADL won’t bring him back when he’s only asking for the minimum? ADL did bring Napoli back from Serie C, but he’s doing all he can to prevent them from becoming great.
The silver lining is that it would be pretty cool to see Insigne and Mertens stick together and go dominate the MLS together.
You knew this was coming, I would expect a few more.