Dries Mertens to end speculation over his future by
signing a new deal to stay at Napoli.
The Belgium forward is out of contract in 2018 and
has been linked with moves to Inter, Manchester
United and Tottenham, while he rejected the
chance to make a lucrative move to China in
January.
Mertens' fine form this season has seen him score
22 Serie A goals to help Napoli ease the pain of
Gonzalo Higuain's exit to Juventus.
And speaking after Callejon's goal gave Napoli a
vital 1-0 away win at Inter, Insigne, who last month
signed a new deal until 2022, called on Mertens to
follow suit.
"Mertens has a lot of quality and can do well in
any role," Insigne said to Mediaset.
"His goals are important, I hope he remains with us
so that I get to play alongside him for a long time.
He is a great player.
"The club knows how to keep its best players. I
renewed my contract for a winning project and I
hope he can do the same."
Callejon echoed that message after a San Siro
victory that moved Napoli to within one point of
second-placed Roma, Mertens having impressed
by hitting the post and creating four chances for his
team-mates.
"We want champions here," said Callejon. "We all
want Mertens to stay, he is happy, in good shape
and helps the team.
"We are up there in the table and that is what we
wanted. We believe in our chances of finishing
second.
"We came to a difficult arena against some big
champions, but saw a Napoli side that was hungry
and we want to continue like this."
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said last
week that Mertens persuading his wife to remain in
Naples would be key to the club's hopes of
keeping the 29-year-old.
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