Revealed: Everton, Liverpool target has a better goal-to-minutes ratio than Cristiano Ronaldo
The Belgian international recently banged in a brace against Roma, reopening the race for second place, synonymous with automatic Champions League qualification.
He has been pursued by Everton and Liverpool in the last few months, prompting plenty of speculation with his new deal as yet unsigned.
Ronaldo “only” scores every 111 minutes. Mertens has 22 goals in 33 games, 18 in Serie A, another four in the Champions League. C-Ron, for his part, has scored twice in Europe, and has 25 goals in 31 games.
Ronaldo has, however, played 532 more minutes, (2.763, as opposed to Mertens’ 2.231).
It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the former PSV man, who wasn’t even starting last season. This year, with Arkadiusz Milik going down injured and Manolo Gabbiadini failing to replace him, Coach Maurizio Sarri has decided to throw in the Belgian.
Long touted as a false nine, the Belgian is simply banging them in, his 18 goals good enough for fourth place in the Serie A hitman charts, four behind leader Andrea Belotti on 22.
As Adam Digby recently put it, does this not make Mertens an out-and-out striker?
Psst, the guy leading the line & running in behind isn't a "false 9," he's a proper striker who happens to be short pic.twitter.com/rk7E9uHv6V
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) March 4, 2017