Dries Mertens is in the same situation as Lorenzo Insigne, as his contract with Napoli is up in a few months, but his extension is not getting as much fanfare. The player addressed it in an interview: “We will see about it because you have to be in two to reach an agreement. I have been here for nine years, and I would like to stay.”
The Belgian discussed the key win over Milan to SportMediaset: “We have to keeping fighting to chase the Scudetto. Now we have to quickly put it behind us and focus on the next match. We will face Spezia, and we will need to have the right kind of hunger to prevail.”
Mertens would not mind getting more minutes: “I am playing a little less, but I am having a pretty good scoring average. Surely, I would like to feature more, but we will see in the future.”
The striker complimented Luciano Spalletti: “He knows how to talk to the squad and how to field it. He has incredible experience and that mix allows him to be a great person and an excellent coach.”
Mertens has been donning the captain armband lately: “It is an honor, even more so in a stadium named after Diego Armando Maradona, and it is always very motivating. We properly celebrated him after the Lazio game.”
Mertens had already hinted in the past that he would like to get an extension from Napoli. However, he would have to accept a significant pay cut to make it happen.