Report: Mertens showing his charitable side in Naples

Jordan Russell (@JordRuss96)
01 mar 2018

It is fair to say Dries Mertens has often flown under the radar somewhat as a professional footballer, failing to grab the headlines to the same extent many of his peers do. That is despite being in the form of his life under the tutelage of Maurizio Sarri, with whom he hopes to clinch Napoli’s first Scudetto since 1990 in May.

However, it is not only on the pitch that the Belgian striker chooses to go about his business quietly. Indeed, according to a new Corriere della Sera report, the 30-year-old can often be spotted out and about in Naples handing out pizzas to the city’s homeless community.

In fact, the report recalls an occasion in December when, having just landed in Campania after flying from Turin, Mertens called his two best Neapolitan friends to see if they wanted to buy lots of Margherita pizzas to give to people living on the streets without food.

Mertens always wears a cap and dark glasses in order to avoid being recognised. He does not want special praise for doing something he considers to be a simple gesture of love and kindness to a city which has adopted him as one of its own. He merely wants to act in solidarity with Naples’ most vulnerable people, who apparently would not even dream of asking him for a selfie.