Dries Mertens Biography
Dries Mertens is a Belgian professional footballer born on 6th May 1987 in Leuven, Belgium. He plays as a striker or winger for Italian club Napoli and the Belgium national team. On 30th December 2016 he was named Belgian Footballer of the Year for 2016.
Dries Mertens began his career in football as at the now-dissolved local club Stade Leuven. He was spotted by Anderlecht scouts who offered him a chance to join the club’s youth academy in 1998. He spent five years in the youth setup at Anderlecht before being released in 2003, with coaches finding him to be too be too short and physically incapable of competing at a professional level.
Dries Mertens Age
He was born on 6th May 1987. He is 31 years old as of 2018.
Dries Mertens Height
He is 1.69 m/ 5 ft 5 inches
Dries Mertens Family
His parents are Herman Mertens, father, and Marijke Mertens, mother. He is the only child. His parents came from a humble background but they supported him in all the ways they would.
“My father usually drives mw with his bus to Anderlecht and he took me from the age of 11 to 18 years old every day to training in Brussels.”
Dries Mertens Wife
Football player Dries Mertens got married in 2015 to his childhood love Kat Kerkhofs. Kat admitted in October 2017 that their relationship was in a slump. The two agreed afterwards a few times, but now it seems that the folds have finally been smoothed out. This is according to a post on his official instagram account.
Dries Mertens and Katrin Kerkhofs
Dries Mertens Gent
In 2003 after he was released by Anderlecht, he was signed by fellow Belgian Pro League side, Gent. After two season he was loaned to Eendracht Aalst for the 2005–06 season. He excelled with the third
division side and was named Player of the Year. The coaching staff was not sure about his slight frame and they loaned him again to AGOVV Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.
Dries Mertens AGOVV
On 1 July 2006, Mertens officially signed for AGOVV Apeldoorn, who later dissolved in 2013, on a season-long loan with the option of purchase. He managed a return of 2 goals in 35 appearances during a season which saw him become a fan favourite amongst De Blauwen supporters. Mertens’ form prompted AGOVV, led by new manager John van den Brom, to exercise the option to sign the Belgian permanently the following season. It was a move that paid off for the Dutch club as Mertens ended the season having 15 goals in 38 appearances for the club.
During the 2008–09 Eerste Divisie season he was named the club captain. With his new rople he contributed a further 13 goals for the season which contributed to him being awarded the Golden Bull award for the most talented player in the Eerste Divisie. He made a total of 110 appearances during the three seasons at the club and scored 31 goals.
Dries Mertens Utrecht
In March 2009 he agreed a deal with AGOVV, Utrecht officially completed the signing of Mertens at the start of the 2009–10 Eredivisie season for a €600,000 transfer fee.
In his debut season with the club, Mertens netted six league goals en route to being named runner-up to Ajax’s Luis Suárez for the Dutch Footballer of the Year award. He was also awarded the Di Tommaso Trophy for Utrecht’s Player of the Season.
He improved on his tally the following season, netting 10 goals in 31 league appearances for Utrecht, including a final day hat-trick against AZ, and a further three goals in his first experience in the UEFA Europa League.
During his two season stay at the club he made 86 appearances across all competitions and scored 21 goals.
Dries Mertens PSV Eindhoven
In June 2011, it was announced that Mertens had signed for fellow Eredivisie club PSV as a replacement for the departing Balázs Dzsudzsák in a dual transfer with Utrecht teammate Kevin Strootman for a combined fee of €13 million.
He made his competitive debut on 7th August 2011 netting PSV’s only goal in a 3–1 loss to AZ. On28th August he scored his first hat-trick for PSV in a 6–1 drubbing of Excelsior.
Mertens’ strong start to season culminated with him netting four goals in a 7–1 rout of Roda JC on 24 September 2011, meaning he had scored 11 goals in his first 7 appearances for PSV.Towards the back end of the campaign, Mertens lost a number of teeth during a collision with Heracles goalkeeper Remko Pasveer, although he managed to score during the incident. It was revealed on social media platform Twitter that Pasveer had found one of Mertens’ teeth lodged in his head three weeks after the players had collided. Mertens ultimately ended the season having scored 21 goals in 33 matches, the fourth highest in the Eredivisie.
He also scored three goals in four KNVB Cup matches, including a header in the final at De Kuip, Rotterdam, leading PSV to a 3–0 win over Heracles. He made 88 appearances and scored 45 goals over the course of two seasons.
Dries Mertens Napoli
On 16th June 2013he signed with Napoli and became Rafael Benítez’s first signing as new Napoli manager after a reported fee of €9.5 million was agreed with PSV.
On 25th August 2013 he made his Serie A debut coming on as a second-half substitute for Marek Hamšík in a 3–0 win over Bologna. On 30th October he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away victory over Fiorentina.
In Napoli’s first game following the Serie A winter break on 6 January 2014, Mertens scored his first brace for the club in a 2–0 win over Sampdoria. He then scored Napoli’s second goal in their 2–0 win over Juventus on 30 March, helping inflict only the second league defeat over the eventual champions. In the final of the Coppa Italia on 3 May 2014, Mertens replaced Marek Hamšík in the 64th minute and went on to score in stoppage time, securing a 3–1 win over Fiorentina.
On 11 December 2016, he netted a hat-trick in a 5–0 Serie A victory over Cagliari before taking it a step further in the next match by scoring four goals in a 5–3 win over Torino. Mertens’ four goals, which included the fourth fastest hat-trick in Serie A history, was the first haul scored by a Napoli player since Beppe Savoldi in 1977. It also saw him become the first player to score successive league hat-tricks since
Juventus’ Pietro Anastasi in 1974, and the first to score seven goals across two matches since Antonio Angelillo in 1958.
On 30th December 2016 he was named Belgian Footballer of the Year for 2016. On 4 February 2017, Mertens and Hamšík both scored hat-tricks in a 7–1 win over Bologna, a result which saw Napoli score seven away goals in a match for the first time in the club’s history. He maintained his goal scoring form the following season during which he scored 22 goals for the campaign.
Dries Mertens International career
Belgium national football team
Having previously represented Belgium at youth level, Mertens received his first senior call-up by national team coach Georges Leekens on 1 October 2010 for the nation’s UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Kazakhstan and Austria. Though he never featured in either match, Mertens would make his debut on 9 February the following year in a friendly match against Finland in Ghent. He scored his first goal for Belgium on 15 August 2012 in the 125th Derby der Lage Landen. Mertens, having come on as substitute for Nacer Chadli, scored once and assisted twice, to help Belgium overcome a 2–1 deficit versus the Netherlands and win 4–2.
Dries Mertens 2014 FIFA World Cup
Mertens was named in Marc Wilmots’ 23-man squad for Belgium’s 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign in Brazil on 13 May 2014. In the nation’s final warm-up match for the tournament on 7 June, Mertens scored a late winner to secure a 1–0 victory over Tunisia. He made his first appearance in Belgium’s opening match of the World Cup, replacing Chadli at half time and scoring a late winner in a 2–1 victory over Algeria. He made five appearances in total at the World Cup.
Dries Mertens UEFA Euro 2016
Mertens netted his first brace for Belgium in their opening qualifying match, netting twice in three minutes in a 6–0 win over Andorra. The following year, he scored one and assisted another in a 3–1 win over Israel which ensured that Belgium secured top spot in their qualifying group. He was later named in Belgium’s squad for the tournament proper and featured in all five of the nation’s matches as Belgium fell at the quarter-final stage once again, this time losing out to Wales.
Dries Mertens 2018 FIFA World Cup
Mertens scored five goals in Belgium’s qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including two in an 8–1 home win over Estonia on 13 November 2016. He was then selected in Belgium’s tournament squad and scored in the nation’s opening match in a 3–0 win over Panama. He featured interchangeably as a starter and substitute for the remainder of the tournament as Belgium ended third, defeating England in the third place play-off.
Dries Mertens Honours | Awards
PSV
- KNVB Cup: 2011–12
- Johan Cruyff Shield: 2012
Napoli
- Coppa Italia: 2013–14
- Supercoppa Italiana: 2014
Individual
- Belgian Third Division Player of the Season: 2006
- Eerste Divisie Golden Bull: 2008
- Di Tommaso Trophy: 2010
- Belgian Footballer of the Year: 2016
- Serie A Team of the Year: 2016–17
Dries Mertens Facebook
Dries Mertens Twitter
Tweets by dries_mertens14
Dries Mertens Instagram
Dries Mertens Video
Dries Mertens Transfer
Chelsea Reportedly Eyeing €50m Move for Napoli Star Dries Mertens Before End of the Transfer Window.
Updated on: 04 August 2018
Chelsea have reportedly reignited their interest in Napoli and Belgium forward Dries Mertens and are hoping to work out a €50m deal with I Partenopei before the summer transfer window slams shut.
With just five days left to do business in the market, Blues boss Maurizio Sarri has indicated that he wouldn’t mind another midfielder coming in before ahead of the beginning of the season. But, according to RMC Sport journalist Sacha Tavolieri, the Stamford Bridge side have set their sights on Eden Hazard’s international teammate.
“Chelsea are pushing to do a deal for Dries Mertens (Napoli) around the €50m, according to RMC reporter @sachatavolieri;” Get French Football News has tweeted. “Any deal could depend on getting Alvaro Morata out of the door.”
There are a few reasons to doubt his report, though, including Sarri’s comment on incoming players during his press conference on Friday.
“I spoke about positions and characteristics but no names. So, I don’t know. I think we need something, but maybe only a player. We have very good midfielders, but maybe a midfielder with different characteristics [would be a good fit],” the Italian told reporters during Friday’s presser ahead of the Blues’ FA Community Shield clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
Furthermore, Morata has already confirmed that he will be staying with Chelsea this summer and the club have even facilitated a change of squad number at his behest.
There have also been reports of the Londoners having made an agreement with Napoli, promising not to return for any of their players following their capture of Brazilian midfielder Jorginho last month.
However, should Mertens join Chelsea, despite the aforementioned, they would have quite the player on their hands.
The attacker has netted 62 goals along with 26 assists in 130 appearances for the Naples outfit in the last three seasons and would likely feel right at home playing next to Hazard, as well as under the former Napoli boss.
Source: https://www.90min.com