Reds keeping ‘close eye’ on Napoli striker
UNITED are following Napoli forward Dries Mertens ‘very closely’, according to the Serie A giants’ former sporting director, Pierpaolo Marino.
The 30-year-old was named Belgian Footballer of the Year in 2016 after stepping up as Napoli’s main man following Gonzalo Higuain’s big-money move to Juventus.
Mertens has scored 43 goals since Higuain moved to the Juventus Stadium and signed a new deal with Napoli in May, which keeps him at the club until 2020.
But Marino, whose first spell at the club coincided with the club’s landmark title win in 1987, has claimed that United have shown an interest given his cheap release clause.
“The €28m clause is likely to be a low price even if he is 30,” he told Calcio Mercato via Sporting Witness.
“It turns out that United are following him very closely.”
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis previously confirmed that Mertens has a release clause.
Having been stung by Juventus’ pursuit of Higuain a year previously, De Laurentiis insisted that only foreign sides could take advantage of Mertens’ buy-out clause.
“It protects the fans and me,” he previously told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli. “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.”