Man Utd have reportedly ramped up their interest in Napoli forward Dries Mertens after scouting him in the win over Lazio at the weekend.
The Belgian international has been a player transformed this season under Maurizio Sarri as after deploying him up top, he has responded with 26 goals and seven assists.
In contrast, United have struggled for goals this season, something that Jose Mourinho recently bemoaned, and in turn according to Tuttomercatoweb, it’s been suggested that United are stepping up their attempts to sign the 29-year-old.
Mertens has a £30m release clause in his contract with the Partenopei, and all attempts at agreeing a new deal have fallen short thus far leaving the Serie A giants vulnerable in terms of losing him.
The current agreement expires in 2018 and so time will start to run out for both parties if Napoli are forced to consider their options this summer with a failure to agree on new terms. Based on what we’ve seen this season though, it comes as no surprise as to why Mourinho would want to bolster his squad with the addition of a goalscorer like Mertens.
Aside from the fact that he would fit into the United side well from a tactical and style point of view, Mourinho has been forced to be over-reliant on Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has been the only real consistent source of goals for the Red Devils.
Javier Hernandez is also mentioned as a possible target by The Sun, who also note that speculation last month suggested that United were preparing a £4.3m-a-year contract for Mertens. In turn, it seems as though the Belgian will be one of the club’s top targets ahead of next summer with Mourinho in desperate need of more quality and depth up front.