Looking to reinforce their squad ahead of next season, twenty-time English top-flight champions Manchester United are thought to be mulling a sensational summer move for Lazio’s pacey winger Dries Mertens.
Mertens, 29, has been in enigmatic form for Lazio this season, scoring an outstanding 23 goals and 11 assists in 34 appearances across all competitions, sending the Eagles to fourth in the Serie A table so far with 53 points, just four points shy of the Champions League places.
The PSV alumni’s brilliant performances this season has definitely caught the attention of a variety of clubs across Europe, with Manchester United the most interested in the Belgian international’s impressive progress during this campaign.
Indeed, according to Italian sports outlet Calciomercato, the recently-crowned League Cup champions are thought to be keen on making a move for Mertens in June, with club representatives understood to have met the Belgian star in a hotel located in the city.
The purpose of the meeting is evidently to show the winger that United are serious in bringing him to Old Trafford and to assess whether the former Anderlecht and Gent star would be amenable to making a move.
Lazio, for their part, are eager to keep the Belgian firmly rooted at the Italian capital and have already offered the player a new contract. Should the Belgian agree to it, the new deal will bump his salary to more than £2-million per year, a fee that almost double what the 29-year-old is currently being paid.
Mertens, however, is yet to sign the contract and Manchester United’s proverbial eleventh-hour move may well dissuade him from renewing his deal at the Stadio Olimpico.
Of course, whether that will come to fruition in the summer is, as of this moment, still uncertain.
Mertens’ current contract with Lazio ties him at the club until 2018.