Partenope sat patiently on the rocks of the Mediterranean sea, watching the horizon for a masculine soul to appear. She and her siren sisters waited eons for the lost and loveless to appear, those who sought a true home. That southern sun hung overhead, down onto his ship as he neared Italian shores.
Partenope tried her sweetest song to make Ulysses come to her, but it fell on deaf ears. But little did she know, he’d always kept his true love in the back of his mind. Her seduction, for the first time, had failed. Overwhelmed with the denial, the siren killed herself. Her body floated amongst the lapping waves, before washing up in the Bay of Naples. So it was, that she became the city of Napoli herself – her head the hill of Capodimonte, her tail curling along the hill of Posillipo.
The journey in creating a legend is a long one, with rough patches and a few smooth grooves – like those of a mermaid’s tail. Legends are born out of love: Love for their commitment; love for their loss; love for their strength. It’s hot and visceral like the lava of Mount Vesuvius. It embodies what it means to be from Naples.
This story is about Dries ‘Ciro’ Mertens and how he became immortal for the Partenopei.
If there’s one man to thank for ‘L’Immortale’ making his way south, it’s down to the man who’s just as fiery as the city itself – Rafa Benitez.
The Spanish tactician met Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis in a clandestine meeting in London in May 2013, announcing him just four days later. One of The UEFA Cup winner’s demands was a certain hotshot player from the Eredivisie. The speedy attacker was about to hit the middle of his career, in one that took him from to Belgium’s Gent, then a short trip to the Netherlands with Utrecht, before a big move to title-contending PSV Eindhoven.
At PSV he was involved in a goal per game – creating and striking plays out of nowhere, as well as tracking back and defending, as well as an eye for goal, and confidence to push defenders back and force respect. An interesting option from a league that played Total Football, but being part of the Rafa revolution in Naples was an entirely new frontier.
“Rafael Benitez wanted me really badly and that gives me a lot of confidence. And when people doubt me and say Serie A is different from the Eredivisie because I won’t play against any Dutch defenders, that is when I’ll be at my best.”
And it was Benitez’s paternal personality that sealed the deal. “When he called me he said “I really want you,” and when I spoke to him it was (like) ‘Oh, it’s Rafa Benitez on the phone!”
Mertens relished the opportunity to be thrown into the cauldron that was the city of Naples, and the stadium of the San Paolo.
“For me it was a big step because no one spoke English here, But Rafa spoke French, English, Italian, Spanish, he speaks every language and made me feel at home.”
“At my first training session he said, ‘Try to learn this language as soon as possible but, if there is anything you need, ask me. He was like a real father.”
‘ADL’s’ premonition also marked the start of something special:
‘Nnammurato for the first time
It was thought that Mertens would be a set starter on the left wing of Benitez’s 4-2-3-1 formation, with captain Marek Hamsik to his right, and Lorenzo Insigne on the opposite flank. But in the wake of Edinson Cavani’s glamour move to Paris St. Germain, there was cash to be splashed, and Rafa raided Real Madrid for familiar faces, bringing over Jose Callejon, Raul Albiol, and Gonzalo Higuain, and Jorginho joining later in the season. Fierce competition made the weekly selections that much harder, but Mertens would prove to be an ace up the Spaniard’s sleeve throughout the season.
He eased into the 2013/14 season with a few starts. It took six games before he would get some points, by registering two assists against Livorno. But following a 2-0 loss to Roma, he was given the start at left-wing yet again versus Fiorentina – in a match that demonstrated his class.
His first goal came via a game-winning snipe over Fiorentina. He evaded six defenders as he received the ball from outside the box, by then driving forward with pace to beat his man, finishing with a low and hard shot on his left across the face of goal. Exquisite. High class. To probably everyone besides him, shocking.
Then with Christmas on the horizon, Inter Milan came to town and he was rewarded with an important start. As the elves paraded around Curva A he brought the fire to their sparklers, igniting the crowd with two touches then a strike from beyond the box as he dazzled past Andrea Ranocchia.
More goal scoring exploits were to follow. A brace began with a low-hit-volley against Sampdoria, and ended with a 25-yard free kick. And then, another against Hellas Verona – first losing his mark with a dummy before capitalising on a mistake, followed by a right footed shot from 20-yards-out that so elegantly met the back of the net.
The good work continued into the back half of the spring. Just after coming on for Hamsik against Juventus, his chest trap caught Claudio Marchisio off guard, firing long range to beat a superhuman Gianluigi Buffon. It was one of just two losses the Old Lady suffered all season, as she’d eventually gain another jewel in her tiara.
Benitez recognised the Belgian’s all-round progress after a Lazio thumping:
“I know Dries very well, I know perfectly what he can do here in Italy, he is learning to perform proficiently in his mission in the defensive phase.”
A striker’s chip against Roma helped his side progress in the Coppa Italia, before scoring the final goal to beat Fiorentina and lift that trophy. There was something magical to the petite Belgian. He was adapting so quickly not only to Italian football, but also to his new home. But where was this power coming from? Well, as they say, the secret’s in the sauce:
“The mozzarella di bufala is my strength,” he told Four Four Two in a 2014 interview.
“Yes, I eat a lot of it, I’m truly greedy. It’s probably this that’s behind the strength in my shot. I’m small, physically less strong than someone like [Duvan] Zapata, so I have to get by with technicality. Insigne is also like me, we don’t have power, but a lot of brains.”
There was probably some truth to that peculiar answer, but even by suggesting it was the “mozz,” his identity was quickly changing. He was becoming a Neapolitan.
Although his initiation had been so successful, the nimble forward was still put through the shuffle over the next two years. Given the newer players, veteran starters, and a headstrong manager(s), his playing time wasn’t much more than sporadic.
He added a Supercoppa winner’s medal to Napoli’s trophy cabinet, with ‘o’ tiraggir’ making an appearance to purge Fiorentina – again. He was making it look easy in that ‘denim’ shirt, especially with Higuain’s precision inside the box. Even though Napoli would finish in fifth, they scored 70 goals – just two less than Scudetto-winning Juventus, with his creativity and dynamism playing an important role.
Benitez would leave at the end of just their second year together, replaced by the espresso sipping, cigarette smoking Maurizio Sarri, who had his own ideas. Prolific wouldn’t be the right word, but wonderful strikes against Sampdoria and Bologna were met with a more creative version of the player, who was growing with confidence in 1v1s. In short, this period helped chisel him into the complete attacker he was readying to become.
Despite the competition and managerial transition, Napoli’s No. 14 managed to put up great numbers in the transition between the 2014/15 and 15/16 seasons. One could be forgiven for glossing over his 21 goals and 19 assists, due to Higuain’s record numbers, and captain Hamsik’s control of the centre. But the legend was yet to be carved.
Ballá ‘nnanz’a tutte quante
In the summer of 2016, Napoli would lose the league’s best striker to Juventus. Things turned from bad to worse for the Partenopei, as just two months after joining the club, Arkadiusz Milik tore his ACL. It was then discovered just how versatile the Belgian really was, as he adopted the centre-forward role and never looked back. Mertens was ready to become the dominating force in front of the Partenopei offence.
Napoli’s incisive play between Insigne, Callejon, and Mertens also enabled high octane pressing, taking a high line to regain possession quickly. It was vertical, moving the ball forward while holding onto the ball for the opportune moment – in sync with the Belgians ‘pass-move-shoot-score’ style: Their play was a footballing spectacle.
Not bad for a player who had never started a game in this position in his life. “Well, only in five-a-side,” Mertens interjects. “If we were playing that kind of football as kids, then I would always play as a striker. So I guess from there I did get a little feeling for goal, this sense of ‘turn and shoot.'”
Experts quickly defined him as a “false nine,” but Mertens hardly looked like one. Sure, he would come deep at times to take possession and distribute it to team-mates running beyond him on either side, but that was a byproduct of his play, rather than a hallmark. Right from the start, he demonstrated a willingness to play off the shoulder of the last defender and attack the spaces in behind.
“I think I know what people want to say when they use that ‘false nine,'” Mertens said, “because I’m not a big guy who can keep the ball and who can do what people have in their mind as the image of a striker. But football changes, and the way teams play changes. I think with the goals I’ve scored now, I think we can leave the ‘false’ and say I’m just a No. 9.”
Dries dominated the 2016/17 season, becoming the complete player that Napoli would rely on for the next half-decade. As the omnipresent crown of Napoli’s play, he spearheaded Sarriball, eventually helping his club finish the league in a respectable third place. Mertens doubled his closest teammate’s goal count with 34 between all competitions.
The figures were phenomenal: four braces against Pescara, Roma, Cagliari, and then Fiorentina; two hat tricks, with one against Bologna – helping Napoli record history as the team’s first ever time scoring seven away goals – and the other downing Cagliari; but even these score lines were outdone with four over Torino in late December.
The Champions League had Napoli in the Round of 16, where they were outdone by Real Madrid, but even they were unable to keep Mertens from scoring at least one. In all, he scored 29 domestically, with another five tacked on to European play.
An immense 34 goals, for a player who was simply ‘filling in.’ But the statistics can mean nothing without the story behind them, and each one of these were high quality. Efforts from outside the box, courageous solo efforts, and even a ‘cucchiaio’ while not even facing the goal, they were individual testaments to Mertens’ excellency.
Ammò, era na sirena
Time passed, and in March 2021 Mertens scored his 99 and 100th Serie A goals. And later in that year, he became the club’s Serie A all-time top scorer.
Over the years, Mertens integrated himself within the warmth of the Neapolitan people. He became active throughout the community by raising awareness at animal shelters, where he would rescue his ‘Juliette’ from. Innovating, he celebrated her adoption by getting on all fours and lifting his leg up against the corner flag after leaving his mark against Roma. He and his wife (Katrin) later paid for the shelter to stay open, after it fell on hard times.
He even befriended Aurora, a young cancer patient he would often visit. The two ended up becoming buddies. On a night before Christmas, he even went throughout the streets of Naples delivering pizzas to the homeless – all in disguise.
“I went with Katrin and my friend Antonio to the La Fenice kennel and I’m honestly very sad, because I saw so many abandoned dogs.
The majority of Mertens’ civil service was left off of social media, intentionally. He was doing it because it was the right thing to do; because he loved his city. He showed the love back that had been given to him since day one.
“It was not my intention to let people know certain things, but since some newspapers have started to write about them, I prefer to post a video of what I’ve done… Maybe I can make others want to do it.”
The legend of L’Immortale Ciro Mertens will live on forever throughout the alleyways from Secondigliano to Forcella. But his greatest gift was to football, one of the very last bandiere faithful to his adopted home. A true Partenope.