Dries Mertens

Dries Mertens Net Worth, Income, Career & All Wiki [World Cup 2022]

#31
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Updated On October 19, 2022
Birthday
Country
Belgium
Playing Position
Forward
Last Updated
October 2022
Birthday
Playing Position
Forward
What is Dries Mertens recent Net worth?
$51 million

Who is Dries Mertens?

Dries Mertens is a professional footballer from Belgium. He can play as both a striker and a winger. He is presently a member of the Napoli football team in Italy. Stade Leuven was where he began his youth career, and Eendracht Aalst was where he made his professional debut. Before joining Napoli in 2013, he had previously played for Gent, AGOVV, Utrecht, and PSV. He won several club and individual awards during his time at Napoli. In 2011, Mertens made his senior international debut. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he was a member of the Belgian national football team, who ended in third place.

Dries Mertens was born on May 6, 1987, in Leuven, Belgium’s Flemish province, to his mother, Marijke Mertens, and father, Herman Mertens. Dries Mertens comes from a poor home with football-obsessed parents who had a big goal for their only child. Dries Mertens was a quiet and reserved student in school who excelled in his studies. His school at the time provided him with the option to play competitive soccer during sports sessions.

Mertens is a versatile and hardworking attacker who is quick, inventive, small, and nimble. He has a low center of gravity and outstanding technique and dribbling ability, allowing him to slip past opponents when in possession of the ball. He is noted for his ability to both score and create goals and is capable of getting onto the end of passes or creating space for himself or his teammates by making attacking runs into the box. He has good vision, passing, shooting ability, mobility off the ball, and an eye for goal. His preferred position is as a left-sided winger, which allows him to cut into the center and strike on goal with his stronger right foot from outside the area, though he can also play on the right and has even been used as an offensive midfielder by manager Dick Advocaat. He also takes accurate free kicks.

His status is married; he has a wife who is really hot and attractive, according to certain key parts of her personal life and history. Katrin Kerkhofs is her name. They appeared to each other as a girlfriend and boyfriend prior to their marriage. They were the most romantic pair on the planet. They were also dating at the time. They celebrate their wedding after fully understanding and knowing each other. They are currently content in their relationship. They are both in love and have feelings for one another. He and his wife have a deep bond.

Contracts, salaries, bonuses, and endorsements are all sources of money for Dried Mertens. As an AM RLC, F C with Napoli, he earns £137,000 per week and £7,124,000 per year. Dries Mertens has an estimated net worth of £40,716,000. His current deal runs out on June 30, 2022.

Dries Mertens is 1.69 meters tall, or 5 feet and 7 inches tall, and weighs 61 kg. He has a muscular physique. His eyes are dark brown, and his hair is black. He has 1.8 million Instagram followers and 863.5k Twitter followers.

The Career of Dries Mertens

Dries Mertens Napoli

Player: Dries Mertens Napoli (source: Bleacher Report)

Mertens began his youth career in 1996 with Stade Leuven, a local team. In 1998, scouts from Anderlecht discovered Mertens and signed him to their development academy. He was a member of the club’s academy for five years. He was dismissed by the team in 2003 because he was too short and physically unfit to compete at the professional level.

Gent, a Belgian Pro League team, signed him in 2003. After spending two years in Gent’s youth, the club loaned him to Endracht Aalst of the Belgian Third Division for the 2005-06 season. Gent loaned Mertens to the Dutch club AGOVV Apeldoorn at the end of the 2005-06 season. In 2007, the club made his move permanent. For the 2008-09 Eerste Divisie season, he was named the club’s new captain. In 2008, he received the Golden Bull award as the Eerste Divisie’s most talented player. He worked at AGOVV for three years. In 110 appearances for the club, he scored 31 goals in all competitions.

In March 2009, he went to Eredivisie team Utrecht, where he signed a 600,000 Euro contract. He won the Di Tommaso Trophy for Utrecht’s Player of the Season at the end of the 2009-10 season. He was also runner-up for the Dutch Footballer of the Year award to Luis Suarez of Ajax. He scored 21 goals in 86 appearances in all competitions during his two-year stay with Utrecht.

In 2011, the club sold Mertens and Kevin Strootman to PSV Eindhoven for a total of 13 million euros. On August 7, he made his competitive debut for PSV in a 1-3 loss against AZ. In his first game, he scored his first goal. He clashed with Heracles goalie Remko Pasveer near the close of the 2011-12 season, losing a number of teeth in the process. Three weeks later, one of his teeth was discovered trapped in Pasveer’s head. He was a member of the PSV team that won the KNVB Cup and the Johan Cruyff Shield in 2011-12. He was a vital player for PSV the following season when they finished second to Ajax in the Eredivisie. In two seasons with PSV, he scored 45 goals in 88 games across all competitions.

In June 2013, he joined the Italian club Napoli for a fee of 9.6 million euros. Rafael Benitez’s new management, Napoli, made him his first signing. On August 25, 2013, he made his Serie A debut against Bologna. On October 30, 2013, he made his Napoli debut against Fiorentina. He was a member of the Napoli squad that won the Coppa Italia in 2013-14, defeating Fiorentina 3-1. Mertens came on as a substitute in the final and scored.

Mertens was also a member of the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana winning team. Napoli won the penalty shootout against Juventus. Until the 2016-17 season, he was largely employed as a backup striker for the club. Mertens was assigned the major attacking role following the departure of Gonzalo Higuain and the injury to Arkadiusz Milik. In a 5-3 win over Torino in December 2016, he scored four goals. He had the fourth-fastest hat-trick in Serie A history by scoring four goals. He was selected Belgian Footballer of the Year in 2016. On February 4, 2017, Mertens and Hamsik both scored hat-tricks in a 7-1 away win over Bologna. For the first time in the club’s history, Napoli scored seven goals in a single game.

He was the league’s second-leading goalscorer in 2016-17, trailing only Edin Dzeko. Since joining the club through the end of the 2018-19 season, he has had 109 goals in 280 appearances in all competitions. After scoring a goal against Barcelona in the 2019-20 Champions League, he became Napoli’s joint all-time leading goalscorer with 121 goals in March 2020. In the same game, he suffered an injury.

Mertens scored his 99th and 100th Serie A goals for Napoli in a 2–0 loss against Roma on March 21, 2021. Mertens scored his 103rd Serie A goal for Napoli in a 3–2 defeat to Inter on November 21, 2021, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer in the competition. Before making his senior international debut, Dries Mertens was a member of the Belgian U17 team. In 2010, he was called up for the senior team to play Kazakhstan and Austria in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match. He wasn’t mentioned at the time.

On February 9, 2011, he made his senior international debut against Finland in a friendly match. On August 15, 2012, he scored his first international goal against the Netherlands. He was a member of the Belgian national team that advanced to the 2014 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals. He and his father had wagered that he would score in the event, and he had won. He shaved his father’s mustache as a prize for winning the bet, according to the wager. He shared the photo on his Instagram account.

Mertens was a member of the Belgian national squad that advanced to the 2016 UEFA Euro Cup quarterfinals. In addition, he was picked to Belgium’s World Cup squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He primarily came on as a substitute in the games. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Belgium came in third place.

Mertens made his 100th appearance for Belgium in a 2–1 win over Denmark during UEFA Euro 2020 on June 17, 2021.

Awards, Titles, and Achievements

Dries Mertens Belgium

Player: Dries Mertens Belgium (source: Bleacher Report)

Dries Mertens has won several titles and individual awards in his career.

PSV

  • KNVB Cup: 2011–12
  • Johan Cruyff Shield: 2012

Napoli

  • Coppa Italia: 2013–14, 2019–20
  • Supercoppa Italiana: 2014

Belgium

  • FIFA World Cup third place: 2018

Individual

  • Belgian Third Division Player of the Season: 2006
  • Eerste Divisie Golden Bull: 2009
  • Di Tommaso Trophy: 2010
  • Belgian Footballer of the Year: 2016
  • Ballon d’Or nomination: 2017
  • Serie A Team of the Year: 2016–17
Below is the chart showing the comparison of Dries Mertens's goals with other Forward players. The selected players for comparison include Antoine Griezmann.