The Napoli forward is officially more prolific than Real Madrid’s number seven – but do Newcastle United have a chance of signing him?
Now, let’s get things straight. In all likelihood, Dries Mertens will not even consider swapping Champions League football and the Serie A title race with Napoli to replace Aleksandar Mitrovic at Newcastle United, regardless of the ambitious claims made by Belgian publication Het Nieuwsblad.
And that is no slight on the Tynesiders. They remain one of English football’s biggest clubs and, as demonstrated in the summer, Rafael Benitez possesses the pulling power to attract players seemingly beyond the club’s current station.
This is without mentioning the fact that Benitez, the former Napoli coach, was a major factor in Mertens moving to the Partenopei in the first place back in 2013, Repubblica reports.
The 29-year-old may have taken his game to an entirely new level this season, ensuring the loss of Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus has been far from devastating by transforming himself from a speedy winger into one of Europe’s most lethal centre-forwards. And we mean a genuine centre-forward too, not merely a re-hashed false nine.
Yet, despite the fact that his long-awaited new deal has not yet been signed, it seems fanciful at best to think that Newcastle have a chance of signing a forward who has netted 19 goals in Serie A this season, finding the net every 90 minutes on average.
To put that into perspective, Mertens’ record eclipses that of Ballon D’Or winner and relentless goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo (a goal every 96 minutes), thus cementing the former PSV attacker’s status among the world’s top strikers.
You can forgive Newcastle supporters for getting a little excited at these latest developments but it appears the rumours are straying very much into silly season territory.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
