Napoli President Says Offering Dries Merten New Contract Was "Simple And Natural" Decision

Dries Mertens already has a new three-year contract agreed on with Napoli ahead of his current contract expiration date amidst multiple links from top-flight clubs and the club's president revealed that his decision to keep the player was "simple and natural".

Chelsea and Inter Milan are the two European bigwigs that are linked to the Belgian striker and that interest has been since January but the player would prefer to remain at the club that he joined from PSV for £9million in 2013. 

In the midst of this, the 33-year-old penned his signature to a new three-year contract with the club and that ended any possibility of leaving the club in summer. The club's president Aurelio De Laurentiis revealed he is the mastermind behind retaining the player with such a contract despite his age. 

"Renewing the contract for a 33-year-old footballer is not part of our habit," Aurelio told Corriere Dello Sport. "But with Merten, it was simple, natural. I will say more when he has stopped playing, I would like to find him a role to continue the collaboration. 

Merten became the club's all-time highest goalscorer on Saturday after scoring in the side's match win on aggregate against Inter Milan (2-1) in the Coppa Italia semi-final. That brought his goal tally to 122 in 310 appearances in his seven-year reign at the club.