Dries Mertens Admits Delight at Napoli's 'Beautiful Football' as He Reveals Reasons for Staying

Napoli forward Dries Martens has opened up about the reason he decided to stay at the club, insisting that he remains confident of winning trophies in Naples.

The Belgium star had been linked with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal over the summer, but decided to stay at the Italian side, who have enjoyed an excellent start to their Serie A campaign - winning all seven of their matches this season. They currently sit top of the league table, two points clear of Juventus. 

Mertens has been an important player during that start - scoring seven goals and assisting a further two in the seven games he's played to take his league totals to 24 goals scored and 11 created in 2017.

Speaking on international duty this week (via Football Italia), he revealed that Maurizio Sarri's squad stayed together over the summer thanks to the belief around the group, saying: "We all stayed because we wanted to win something. The longer you're together, the better you are in the end. 

"We're playing beautiful football and I'm happy to be involved in that, we hope to do well against Roma and Inter."

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Mertens is currently with the Belgium national side preparing for their World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus, having already qualified for next summer's tournament in Russia.

The 30-year-old will be looking to continue his good form during those fixtures for Belgium before he returns to Napoli for their next game, when they face an away trip in the league to Roma next Saturday evening before another away match in the Champions League to Manchester City three days later.