Dries Mertens
Dries Mertens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdris ˈmɛrtəns]; born 6 May 1987), nicknamed "Ciro", is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward or a winger for Süper Lig club Galatasaray and the Belgium national team.
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Mertens with Belgium at the 2018 FIFA World Cup | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Dries Mertens | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 6 May 1987 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Leuven, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward, winger | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Galatasaray | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Stade Leuven | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2003 | Anderlecht | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2005 | Gent | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | Gent | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | → Eendracht Aalst (loan) | 14 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | → AGOVV (loan) | 35 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | AGOVV | 73 | (28) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Utrecht | 69 | (17) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2013 | PSV Eindhoven | 62 | (37) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2022 | Napoli | 295 | (113) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022– | Galatasaray | 60 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Belgium U17 | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011– | Belgium | 109 | (21) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:20, 15 April 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:09, 1 December 2022 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
As a youth, Mertens played for Stade Leuven, Anderlecht and Gent, and made his debut on loan to Eendracht Aalst in the Belgian Third Division. In 2006, he moved to Dutch Eerste Divisie club AGOVV Apeldoorn, where he spent three years before a €600,000 move to Utrecht of the Eredivisie. Two years later he and teammate Kevin Strootman were transferred to PSV Eindhoven for a combined fee of €13 million, and won the KNVB Cup and Johan Cruyff Shield in 2012. In 2013, Mertens signed for Napoli for a €9.6 million fee and has since made over 300 appearances for the club. He won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana in 2014, and was named in the Serie A Team of the Year during the 2016–17 season. In 2020, he scored his 122nd goal for the club, surpassing Marek Hamšík as Napoli's all-time top goalscorer.
Mertens made his Belgium debut in 2011 and has since made over 100 appearances for the national team. He was part of the nation's squads at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2022 and the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and 2020, helping them to a third-place finish at the 2018 tournament. In 2016, he was named Belgian Footballer of the Year.