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Chelsea have been dealt a major blow with the news that Belgian international striker Dries Mertens is due to sign a new deal with his current side Napoli.
The Stamford Bridge outfit had been tracking the 33 year old, who is out of contract with the Serie A side at the end of June, for some time, and even tried to sign him in a cut-price deal in January.
However, after looking set to leave the club he signed for from PSV Eindhoven in 2013, he has had a change of mind, after there was a breakthrough in contract talks, and now he is on the verge of agreeing a new deal which will extend his stay with Napoli until 2022.
Frank Lampard was looking to Mertens to supplement his attacking options with doubts over the futures of both Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud at Stamford Bridge but now he will have to turn his attentions elsewhere.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.