MOST WANTED Bosmans
(Napoli)
Any team lucky enough to recruit the
long-serving Belgium international on a
free transfer can be sure of a hat-trick
of welcome benefits: the versatility to
operate as main striker, left-winger or
front-line floater, lots of goals and a
gutsy attitude.
The 32-year-old, a Neapolitan
favourite for the past seven seasons,
might physically be a tiny willow in
a forest of towering oaks, but he can
always be relied upon to put in a shift.
Hyperactive and bristling with a will to
win, he is always ready to go that extra
mile for his colours.
He has certainly not had the easiest
of career paths, judged too small and
frail to make the grade at the Anderlecht
academy, given the same brush-off by
Gent and forced to reconfigure in non-
elite Benelux leagues at EendrachtAalst in Belgium’s third division and
AGOVV in the Dutch second tier.
He had to battle for top-flight
acceptance and only on moving to
Eredivisie sides Utrecht and PSV did
he truly establish himself as one to
watch. So much for the Dutch agent,
who once infamously dubbed him “a
garden gnome” and said he would
struggle to play in the sixth tier.
“I think that [my popularity with the
public] is linked to my style of play,” he
declared last autumn in an interview
with the Belgian publication Sport/Foot
Magazine. “On the pitch I’m quick, I’m
direct, I try things, I put in crosses. The
fans can see that I don’t calculate.”
This season has been a mixed bag
for Mertens. On a personal level he has
often hit the heights, scoring half a dozenChampions League goals and becoming
the most productive marksman in Napoli
history, an honour he now shares with
Slovak midfielder Marek Hamsik on
121 goals. That he has surpassed Diego
Maradona is some feather in his cap.
By way of contrast, Napoli were seen
as title contenders at the start of theseason but have been poor. Their hopes
of a Champions League qualifying spot
were hanging by a thread and the scars
remain from November’s mutiny when
the squad refused an order from club
president Aurelio De Laurentiis to attend
a punishment training retreat.
Mertens apparently was one of the(Bayer Leverkusen)
The midfield all-
rounder and twice
Copa America
gold medallist will
not be without
a dance partner
when the music
starts to play at
the beginning of
next season. His
agent has revealed
that he is in
serious contact
with Italian and
Spanish clubs.(Chelsea}
The Brazilian can
be too irregular
in his attacking
productivity and
effectiveness at
times. But he
should have no
trouble finding
alternative
employment,
with Arsenal,
Tottenham,
Juventus and
Barcelona all
keen on him.CHARLES ARANGUIZ WILLIAN
DRIES MERTENS
“On the pitch I’m
quick, I’m direct, I try
things, I put in crosses.
The fans can see that I
don’t calculate”