Mertens: Sarri ideal Coach

By Football Italia staff

Dries Mertens heaped praise on Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri. “If I become a Coach in future, then my idea of football will be the same as Sarri’s.”

The Partenopei have largely kept their squad intact and, with Arkadiusz Milik now fully recovered after a torn ACL in September, can build on their momentum from the end of last season.

“It could be our season, certainly, but we mustn’t feel the pressure to live up to that label,” the Belgian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“We just need to work hard to avoid repeating certain performances that cost us last term. The problem is not that we came third, but we picked up 84 points, played absolutely the best football and shattered several records, but still won nothing at the end of it.”

Mertens was transformed from winger to unusual centre-forward during Milik’s absence, scoring 28 Serie A goals.

“I’ll be honest, even I was surprised. I think anyone who plays as a centre-forward at Napoli is bound to score many goals, because Sarri’s style of football is all about the attack and leading towards the opposition net.

“Milik’s injury did change my career path, I’m not denying that. At times the bad luck of a teammate can help you and modify a situation. In my case, it prompted a change of role.

“Sarri had this intuition of using me in the centre and I doubt he thought I could be so effective there either. There is another thing, which is that I never really played consistently before that change, so that helped a lot too.

“In the first three years at Napoli I’d score a brace and then find myself back on the bench a week later. This situation really irritated me for a while, as I didn’t have the joy of playing regularly.

“Sarri has done so much for me and I don’t know if I’d be able to play as centre-forward under any other Coach. His style of football is made to get the best out of strikers and not just centre-forwards – look at Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon’s scoring records.

“I don’t know if I will become a Coach in future, but if I do, then my idea of football will be the same as Sarri’s. I wouldn’t be pleased if he asked me to go back to my original wide role, but I’d do it, because if you believe in a Coach then you have to accept his decisions.

“I’ll be honest, I was a bit sad at missing out on the Capocannoniere title by just one goal. I believed to the end I could catch Edin Dzeko and anyone who says they don’t look at the scorers’ charts is lying.”

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