Everton will regret not signing Dries Mertens for fifth of current price

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The Belgian has been in remarkable form for Napoli, putting him out of Everton’s reach.

Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? After all, you could count on one hand the pundits, armchair or official, who tipped erratic winger Dries Mertens to evolve into a prolific centre-forward and fill the gaping void left by Gonzalo Higuain’s Napoli departure.

However, after bringing the curtain down on a remarkable start to the season with ten goals in his last four Serie A games, including hitting Joe Hart’s Torino for five and becoming the first player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in Italy’s top flight since 1994/95, Mertens’ importance to the Naples giants, not to mention his price tag, has swelled enormously.

According to Calciomercato, the Belgian international is set to sign a new five-year deal with last season’s runners-up, complete with a release clause of 50 million euros.

And, somewhat inevitably, half of Europe is now hunting down the playmaker-turned-winger-turned-frontman, with the Daily Star linking Tottenham, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Ajax and, most notably, Everton with a January punt.

They add that Toffees boss Ronald Koeman was desperate to bring him to Southampton and will now renew his interest, armed with a substantial transfer window war chest provided by ambitious majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

However, Everton could have saved themselves a potentially club-record outlay if they had followed through on their previous reported interest.

The Liverpool Echo reported that The Toffees were keen on making a move midway through last season when Mertens was being left out of the XI for Higuain, with his relationship with Maurizio Sarri reportedly strained and his price tag an affordable 14 million euros.

Furthermore, the Daily Mail reported that David Moyes had expressed an interest all the way back in 2010 when Mertens was a highly-rated youngster in the Eredivisie with Utrecht, valued at just £3.2 million.

With a 50 million euro release clause to contend with and a number of Champions League regulars on his tail, Mertens looks certain to have slipped through Everton’s net.