Napoli winger, Dries Mertens, seems to be enjoying the best form of his life. The Belgian talisman is going through a phase where everything his boot touches, turns into gold. When Gonzalo Higuain departed for Juventus in the summer, there were concerns about how the Partenopei would cope in the absence of their star man.
While the former Real Madrid striker has hit the ground running with Juventus, picking up where he left off at his previous employers, Napoli seem to have found someone who has bettered even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Napoli signed a lesser known Arkadiusz Milik to fill in the void left by Gonzalo Higuain. And the results were stunning as he scored 7 goals in his first 9 games. However, fate had something else in mind as a cruel cruciate ligament injury forced the Pole to sit on the sidelines for 4 months.
Manolo Gabbiadini was initially chosen as the replacement for the injured Milik, but a terrible run of form meant that he was shipped off to Southampton for a fee that could potentially rise to £15 million.
When everything seemed gloomy, Napoli manager, Maurizio Sarri, turned to Dries Mertens as his last hope. And he delivered. The Belgian has now scored 14 goals in the last 10 games, with a hattrick against Bologna in his latest game.
His tally of goals in the last 10 games is higher than that of even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the Argentine and the Portuguese have scored 7 and 8, respectively, in their last 10 games.
Also Read: Italian Serie A: 20 teams are too many
With Mertens going through such a great patch of form, it will be interesting to see how Real Madrid line up against the Belgian in their Champions League encounter against Napoli. Add to the fact that Milik is also set to be back against Real Madrid in their round of 16 clash, Madrid can expect their defence to be tested during the course of the game.
It seems as though the brilliant Belgian has found his best touch at the age of 29. If he can keep up this form against the Whites, then the Naples could spring a surprise and eliminate the Madrid giants from the Champions League.
Most goals scored in the last 10 games
| Dries Mertens | 14 |
| Edinson Cavani | 13 |
| Alexandre Lacazette | 10 |
| Gonzalo Higuain | 9 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 9 |
