Mertens to leave Napoli after nine years at the club

Belgian striker Dries Mertens will leave Napoli, Italian club president Aurelio de Laurentiis has announced.

The 35-year-old Belgian’s contract expired on June 30. Under the previous agreement, the player received a salary of 4.5 million euros per season.

“Unfortunately, sometimes you have to go against what the fans want. When a fan asks me why I do not leave Mertens, I can only answer that he offered us himself for another year, because he knows that he is 35 and he must finish.

If he wants to keep playing for us just for the money, then I have to say no. If I have to pay a disproportionate salary to Mertens, this will take some of the money from the budget for next season, and they will be needed to sign younger players, ”Football Italia quotes De Laurentiis with reference to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.

The club’s president revealed that Mertens had turned down two offers to extend his contract: one with a salary of €1.8m and another with €2.4m.

Mertens has been with Napoli since 2013. The Belgian is the club’s all-time leading scorer with 148 goals in 397 matches. As part of the team, Mertens won the Coppa Italia twice, and also became the owner of the country’s Super Cup.