Dries Mertens

Early career

Born in Leuven, Mertens started his career as a boy at the now-dissolved local club Stade Leuven. It was here that the scouts of Anderlecht first spotted Mertens, ultimately resulting in him being offered a chance to join the club's youth academy in 1998. He spent five years in the youth setup at Anderlecht before being released in 2003, with coaches finding him to be too short and physically incapable of competing at a professional level. Following his release from Anderlecht, Mertens was signed by fellow Belgian Pro League side, Gent. Following two seasons in Gent's youth academy, Mertens was loaned to Eendracht Aalst for the 2005–06 season. He excelled with the third division side and was named Player of the Year. The coaching staff at Gent, much like those at Anderlecht before, remained unconvinced of Mertens given his slight frame, however, and loaned him out again the following season, this time to AGOVV Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.

AGOVV

On 1 July 2006, Mertens officially signed for AGOVV Apeldoorn, who later dissolved in 2013, on a season-long loan with the option of purchase. He managed a return of 2 goals in 35 appearances during a season which saw him become a fan favourite amongst De Blauwen supporters. Mertens's form prompted AGOVV, led by new manager John van den Brom, to exercise the option to sign the Belgian permanently the following season. It was a move that paid off for the Dutch club as Mertens ended the season having 15…

Youth career and early senior career

Having previously represented Belgium at youth level, Mertens received his first senior call-up by national team coach Georges Leekens on 1 October 2010 for the nation's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Kazakhstan and Austria. Though he never featured in either match, Mertens would make his debut on 9 February the following year in a friendly match against Finland in Ghent. He scored his first goal for Belgium on 15 August 2012 in the 125th Derby der Lage Landen. Mertens, having come on as substitute for Nacer Chadli, scored once and assisted twice, to help Belgium overcome a 2–1 deficit versus the Netherlands and win 4–2.

2014 FIFA World Cup

Mertens was named in Marc Wilmots's 23-man squad for Belgium's 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign in Brazil on 13 May 2014. In the nation's final warm-up match for the tournament on 7 June, Mertens scored a late winner to secure a 1–0 victory over Tunisia. He made his first appearance in Belgium's opening match of the World Cup, replacing Chadli at half time and scoring a late winner in a 2–1 victory over Algeria in Belo Horizonte. Prior to the World Cup, Mertens had made a bet with his father that he would score at the tournament. After the match, he posted a photo on Instagram of him shaving his father's mustache off as reward for winning the bet. He made five appearances in total at the World Cup as Belgium were eliminated in the quarter-finals at the hands of eventual…

A versatile and hard-working forward, Mertens is a fast, creative, diminutive, and agile player, with a low centre of gravity, who possesses good technique and dribbling skills, which enables him to get past opponents when in possession of the ball. Possessing good vision, passing, shooting ability, movement off the ball, and an eye for goal, he is known for his ability both to score and create goals, and is capable of getting onto the end of passes or creating space for himself or his teammates by making attacking runs into the box. His favoured role is as a winger on the left flank, a position which allows him to cut into the centre and strike on goal from outside the area with his stronger right foot, although he is also capable of playing on the right, and has even been used as an attacking midfielder by manager Dick Advocaat. He is also an accurate free kick taker. During the 2016–17 season, following the departure of Gonzalo Higuaín to rivals Juventus and an injury to the club's main striker Arkadiusz Milik, Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri frequently deployed Dries Mertens either as a main striker, or in a false nine role, seemingly positioned as a lone centre-forward, rather than as a left winger, where he had previously faced competition from Lorenzo Insigne for a starting position; Sarri's tactical change was met with great results, and Mertens's goalscoring output increased dramatically as a result of this switch.

Club

As of match played 30 May 2025

International

As of match played 1 December 2022