Mertens: Wife didn’t want China

By Football Italia staff

Napoli forward Dries Mertens admits he rejected a move to China because ‘my wife didn’t want to live there.’

Mertens reportedly has a release clause in his Napoli contract that lets him sign for a Chinese club, but the Belgian confessed his other half meant ‘I’ll never play there’, while responding to whether he preferred a Scudetto over the World Cup.

“I had the chance to go there, you earn twice as much there as you do in your entire career, but my wife didn’t want to live there, so I’ll never play there,” he said in a documentary entitled ‘God in Naples’.

“I’m very happy at Napoli and I still have two years left on my contract. Scudetto or World Cup? Everyone would say the World Cup, we’re on Belgian TV so I have to say the World Cup!

“In reality, I don’t know: I worked hard to win the Scudetto with Napoli, but unfortunately things went differently.

“For now, I’ll work hard to win the World Cup with Belgium.”

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