Mertens gets emotional leaving Napoli

Dries Mertens

departed

last month when his deal reached its end, and notwithstanding hoping that he would get a renewal offer. The Napoli president revealed that he aimed to cut the wage bill to earn fund for recruiting fresh, young talents.

Mertens was really emotional when he was saying goodbye to the Napoli fans in a social media post this evening. He also thanked them for their support and love.

“Dear Napoletani, I knew this day would eventually come, but I didn’t know how difficult it would be to say goodbye.

“This city adopted me, loved me and supported me. The records and victories will be in the history books, but the people will always be in my heart and I’m very happy that my son Ciro was born here. 

“For 9 years, Naples was my home, the city became part of me and I decided to keep my house on the Gulf. I can only thank everyone, I didn’t leave as I would’ve liked but for me it’s not a farewell, it’s only a goodbye. Napoli, how much fun we had…”

In his spell with Napoli, Mertens appeared in 396 games, contributing to two Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa Italiana. Moreover, he became their all-time top scorer, meeting the back of the net 148 times, which is more than Diego Maradona and Marek Hamsik. In addition, he contributed 90 assists.

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