In the podcast, Stijn Francis once again tells the story about the end in minor between Napoli and his club top scorer, after long negotiations about a new contract had come to nothing.
“The farewell of Dries at Napoli still bothers me,” says the Red Devils’ agent. “Experience San Siro or a match against Juventus to the fullest one last time… That was not for Dries. They took something from him there and that is sour. A lot of interesting proposals came up, but in his head he wanted to sign up in Naples.”
Dries could not make it emotional to switch to Juventus.
Competitor Juventus, among others, was apparently very concrete. “It would certainly have been an interesting transfer for Dries financially, but you felt that he could not make it emotionally. If it had been Bayern or Barca, for example, Dries would have gone without a doubt.”
Galatasaray eventually captured the Red Devil. Francis already says that Mertens also considered a switch to Bali, more specifically national champion Bali United.
“That was one of the options and it would have been a great fit for him. Only the plan, a farewell in Serie A and then an adventure, did not go through.”
Listen to the fragment about Mertens from minute 30
