Manchester United have been served a decisive blow in their pursuit of Dries Mertens after Napoli announced their star forward had put pen to paper on a new deal that runs until 2020.
Mertens, who prior to this season had struggled to establish himself as a first-team regular for Napoli, has enjoyed a sensational campaign for the Serie A side and his performances in front of goal reportedly caught the attention of United manager Jose Mourinho.
The United boss is keen to bolster his offensive options over the summer but he will have to accept defeat in his pursuit of the Belgium international after Napoli were successful in securing his long-term future.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has also ensured the club will not suffer from a repeat situation that saw Juventus poach Gonzalo Higuain from them last summer, including a release clause in Mertens' deal that can only be activated by Chinese clubs in 2018.
“Last night I had a meeting with Giuntoli, Chiavelli and Mertens’ entourage,” the Napoli president told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli, via Football Italia. “We were together from 14:30 in the afternoon to 1:40 in the morning, including our lawyer, the lawyers from Belgium, his Milanese consultants, financial experts on the phone and after hours of technical discussion, we all worked out a perfect bilateral agreement for Dries and Napoli.
“It protects the fans and me. Dries will stay with us for a few more years, unless of course he wants to go to China and next year someone pays the release clause that he wanted introduced and I cannot refuse.
“I was not in favour of the release clause after the Gonzalo Higuain mistake, but we learned from it, so there is a release clause on Dries’ contract that is valid only for China. Relax, Mr Mertens will only play for Napoli in Italy. If he is to leave, it’ll be for outside of Italy.”
To illustrate what a good season Mertens is having, the 30-year-old has scored five more league goals for Napoli this season (27) than he managed in his first three campaigns for the club combined (22).
Mertens is currently only one goal behind Roma striker Edin Dzeko coming into the last day of the season in the race to finish as the Capocannoniere for the year.
For more stats on Dries Mertens, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
