What Mertens (36) did not succeed with Napoli and PSV, he succeeds in Turkey: becoming champion

Tears flowed with Napoli supporters when they said goodbye to their darling Dries Mertens last summer. The little Belgian, affectionately known as ‘Ciro’ in Naples, made the beautiful weather in Naples for nine seasons, won the Coppa Italia twice and left as the club’s all-time top scorer (113 goals).

But he did not succeed in becoming champion, although Napoli was close to it a few times. It cannot but have hurt a bit that Napoli dragged in the third scudetto after his departure.

Mertens did not have to mourn for long. Because on Tuesday evening, the 36-year-old attacker won the first national title in his fine career. With Galatasaray he became champion of Turkey thanks to a 4-1 victory over Ankaragücü.

Mertens was not as dominant as in Naples in his first season in Turkey. That honor was reserved for Mauro Icardi. The mercenary from Paris Saint-Germain scored two goals in the championship game and brought his season total to 21.

It is already the 23rd national title for the superpower from Istanbul, but the last one was four years ago.

This summer, Galatasaray sprinkled a lot of money to regain the title. In addition to Icardi and Mertens, Italian prodigy Nicolò Zaniolo, among others, was detached from AS Roma, Juan Mata came over from Manchester United and Swiss goalgetter Haris Seferovic chose Galatasaray over Benfica.

In addition to Mertens, two former premier league players celebrated the championship party. Fredrik Midtsjø came over from AZ and Milot Rashica (former Vitesse) left Norwich City for Turkey. The attacker celebrated that – just now that there is a lot of unrest in his native country – with the flag of Kosovo.

Galatasaray took the lead after the fifteenth round and did not relinquish it. Fenerbahçe still hoped for a blistering apotheosis – the two top clubs will play against each other on Sunday – and did what it had to do.

The club of Ferdi Kadioglu and bench seat Jayden Oosterwolde did what it had to do and defeated Antalyaspor (from coach Nuri Sahin and assistant Fons Groenendijk) 2-0, but Galatsaray can no longer be traced.

The gap with the rival is five points with two rounds to go. However, Hatayspor and Gaziantepspor, the opponents of Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe on the final day, have not played since the terrible earthquake in early February.

Patrick van Aanholt may also be able to look forward to a championship premium. The left back played ten more matches in Galatasaray’s shirt this season, before being loaned by the club to PSV.