Revealed: Why Man Utd target doesn’t want to sign new Napoli contract

13 mar 2017

Napoli winger Dries Mertens is putting down some eye-catching performances as the Belgian star has been scoring bags of goals playing as false nine. Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri, in fact, replaced injured Arkadiusz Milik with the former PSV ace in October and Mertens has not been struggling to come to terms with hs new position.

Mertens, 29, has 24 goals in 35 appearances and is rumoured to be a transfer target of Manhcester United. Reports in England claim that the Belgian met representatives of the Red Devils last week, whilst Italian papers believe that the player is not willing to sign a new contract with his club.

According to Il Mattino (via mondonapoli) Napoli have offered their star a new € 2.5 million-a-year with the player’s economic demand in the region of € 3 million.

There is not too much difference between offer and supply, but the Naples-based paper also believes that the biggest obstacle between Napoli and Mertens’ contract extension is that the player does not want to have a release clause included in his new deal. His contract at the San Paolo expires in 2018 but Napoli wants to stretch the Belgian’s stay at the club until 2021.