Dries Mertens - one of the most useful Belgian football players

Dries Mertens is a Belgian footballer who plays in the Italian Serie A. However, he got there only three years ago - before that he was known for his playing for various Dutch clubs. Дрис Мертенс is the constant player of modular Belgium and shows very impressive football.

Carier start

Dries Mertens was born on May 6, 1987 in Belgium. At the age of nine he joined the football academy of the local club "Leven", where two years later he was found by the scouts "Anderlecht" and invited to the system one of the strongest clubs in the country. But for the five years that he spent there, the guy could not impress the coaches, so in 2003 he was at the academy of the less famous club "Ghent". It was with him two years later that the player signed a professional contract, but he was not destined to play in the basis. Immediately after the conclusion of the contract, in the summer of 2005, Mertens was leased to the "Endracht", where he spent a whole year, going on the field only 14 times and scoring four goals. When Dris returned to his native club, he still did not find a place, and he went for another year to rent to a neighboring country, namely, to the tiny club AGOVV. There he became a base player and for the season went to the field 35 times and scored two goals.

Transition to "AGOVV"

For "Ghent", Dries Mertens was not a talent, but for "AGOVV" he turned out to be a real star. In the next two years, the winger became an integral part of the team, won the award of the most talented young player, and also became the club's captain. But in 2009, Mertens announced that he was going to leave the club to grow further, and in the summer of that year he signed a contract with the Dutch "Utrecht", which paid for a 22-year-old winger 600 thousand euros. Дрис Мертенс - the football player who was not immediately recognized as a great talent - gradually began to make his way to the top of football.

A new beginning in "Utrecht"

Дрис Мертенс there and then became one of key players of "Utrecht": for two years which it has lead there, the Belgian has left on a field of 86 times and has hammered thus 21 goals. In many ways, with his help, the club went well in Eurocups in the second season, although in the first of them did not even participate. However, it was obvious that "Utrecht" - this is not the limit for a talented Belgian. Therefore, in the summer of 2011, Mertens went on to increase - he moved to one of the strongest clubs in Holland "PSV" for eight and a half million euros.

The game for "PSV"

In the "PSV" winger was able to open up completely and amaze everyone with his capabilities. Nobody expected that such results will be shown by the once speaking for "AGOVV" Dris Mertens.

The statistics of the player for the new club is amazing - being a winger, he played in 88 games, scoring 45 goals and giving 43 assists. On average, he had one goal for every match! In the summer of 2013, Mertens joined one of the strongest clubs in Italy - Napoli (Neapolitans gave ten million euros to the 27-year-old Belgian).

Moving to Italy

In "Napoli" Mertens did not give up the positions and continued to please the fans with his game: for three years in the club he appeared on the field 135 times, scored 34 goals and gave 31 assists. And in the current season, Dries did not slow down - in 8 games he scored 4 goals and gave 3 assists.

National team appearances

In the national team of Belgium, Mertens is also impressed by the performance - in 53 games (the first of which took place in February 2011 and the last one in October 2016), the player scored 9 goals and gave 13 assists.