Dries Mertens

Mertens is a beast. Been saying it for years. Would love to have him at Liverpool but I think he'll stay with Napoli.

16 goals, 5 assists this season.

Belgian Hazard.

Fantastic, but the real maestro is Sarri . He developed him as a players capable to score as a CF, easily the best Serie A coach tbh

Mertens: "I received an offer from China that would've meant financial safety for my kids, nephews. I thought about it for a day. Then, NO."

Mertens is having a brilliant moment but Robes is right. Sarri's system is set to exploit that role like no other, it brings the best all of its main players too. Higuain shone like no one else, then Milik, now Mertens. Its how they play.

With Sarri if you are not able to be the player he envisions then you are ostracized (Gabbiadini, El Kaddouri, Maksimovic, etc.) but if you can work with him then you are set to shine.

Since I first watched him at Napoli, I wondered why he was a bench player with Mazzarri. Great footballer. Better than Insigne in my opinion, and he was often on the bench when Insigne started.

Ray Hudson of Bien Sports and the Football Show predicted Napoli will eliminate Real Madrid. He is usually right in his predictions. I am not so sure however.

He never played under Mazzarri.

Mertens was a bench player because he was never a better winger than Insigne. Every time Mertens gave a top performance from the bench people wanted him to start, then he did for a while and showed that his best games were always against a tired defense.

His game is not very complete, he can't pass the ball around and create opportunities patiently as well Insigne and Callejon.

When he gets the ball he always tries to find a shot/final ball by running straight at the defense and trying to dribble through. It works better with space when he was coming off the bench, or now playing in the center. He receives the ball closer to goal and just has to beat 1 man before shooting or creating a real chance.

If Milik finds form again and retakes the CF role (not a given) then Mertens will eventually go back to bench instead of benching Insigne at LW.

Mertens is banging in the goals but he hasn't been Napoli's best player over the whole season. He just shines the most over a quick look because of the stats.

Before this season Mertens was always a capable player but not really top team starting level. Sigurdson level.

farfan wrote:He never played under Mazzarri.

Sorry, Benitez.

rincon wrote:Mertens was a bench player because he was never a better winger than Insigne. Every time Mertens gave a top performance from the bench people wanted him to start, then he did for a while and showed that his best games were always against a tired defense.

His game is not very complete, he can't pass the ball around and create opportunities patiently as well Insigne and Callejon.

When he gets the ball he always tries to find a shot/final ball by running straight at the defense and trying to dribble through. It works better with space when he was coming off the bench, or now playing in the center. He receives the ball closer to goal and just has to beat 1 man before shooting or creating a real chance.

If Milik finds form again and retakes the CF role (not a given) then Mertens will eventually go back to bench instead of benching Insigne at LW.

Mertens is banging in the goals but he hasn't been Napoli's best player over the whole season. He just shines the most over a quick look because of the stats.

I disagree.