As we edged towards the end of the transfer window, Chelsea found themselves in a bit of a pickle.
Olivier Giroud wanted to leave, and while the Blues would have let him go for the right price, they also wanted to find a replacement, which is where Dries Mertens came in.
The Belgian is out of contract at the end of the year, and there were a number of reports that an offer had been made from Stamford Bridge, but Napoli never really pushed to sell their forward.
Mertens eventually stayed put and will finish the season under Gennaro Gattuso, which gives him a chance to enter the club’s record books by overtaking Marek Hamšik as their all-time top scorer.
He’s two behind now, and needs three goals to claim the top spot, which he should easily do by the end of the 2019-20 campaign.
Once that’s done, however, there will be a big question mark, as a number of clubs would likely welcome him on a free, which Napoli are trying to avoid.
Corriere dello Sport explain he’s been offered a two year extension, but Mertens would like more guarantees for an ‘ambitious future’.
It’s said Monaco, Chelsea and Inter are all ‘there’, presumably biding their time and see what he does, while Napoli are waiting for his answer.
Corriere del Mezzogiorno aren’t optimistic, though, as they claim he will ‘probably separate’ from the Serie A club since he still hasn’t agreed to the extension.
Certainly something to keep an eye on, but first, he’ll probably mainly focus on that goalscoring record before thinking about his future in detail.
