situation, according to club president Aurelio De
Laurentiis.
Manchester United and Tottenham are among the
clubs reported to be monitoring Mertens' situation
with a view to making an offer for the in-form
attacker at the end of the season.
Mertens has plundered 21 goals for Napoli in Serie
A this season, thriving in a central role following
the sale of Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus for an
Italian transfer record, but his four-year spell at the
club may be coming to an end.
Reports have claimed Mertens' family are not
settled in Naples and De Laurentiis suggested the
29-year-old would be allowed to leave should
Napoli receive a high enough offer, with centre-
back Kalidou Koulibaly also potentially on his way
out.
"Mertens has a family situation that you all know,
he has not clarified [his future] 100 per cent, and
we are waiting to see what happens," De Laurentiis
said on Saturday at a press conference to
announce Lorenzo Insigne's contract renewal.
"Funnily enough, the calls he's getting are due to
all the goals he scored thanks to Maurizio Sarri.
With a different coach or team-mates, he probably
wouldn't score so many.
"This is why I say that in football you need
immense humility. There's nothing guaranteed.
People ask me what happens if Chelsea make
another offer for Kalidou Koulibaly? Our defence
would be no weaker without him, because there are
alternatives. We leave nothing to chance.
"I don't want anyone to leave and so will try to
keep hold of them, but if they want to leave or
some crazy person comes along offering to pay the
release clause, then we'll get over it, just as we did
in the past."
Mertens - whose contract is set to expire in 2018 -
rejected the chance to move to the Chinese Super
League in the January transfer window and De
Laurentiis suggested Napoli will not stand in the
Belgian forward's way should he wish to depart.
"You have to love the city of Naples, or you can
leave," De Laurentiis said. "Naples is not like living
in Turin or Manchester.
"The history of the city continues to develop, year
after year, century after century, with millions of
stories that can wrap you up in them if you let it
happen. To people who say: 'Oh I could never live
in Naples' - then go. Who wants you here? Who
asked you?"
0 Comments