Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
Dries Mertens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdris ˈmɛrtəns], born 6 May 1987), nicknamed "Ciro", is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker or winger for Serie A club Napoli and the Belgium national team.As a youth, Mertens played for Stade Leuven, Anderlecht and Gent, and made his debut on loan to Eendracht Aalst in the Belgian Third Division. In 2006, he moved to Dutch Eerste Divisie club AGOVV Apeldoorn, where he spent three years before a €600,000 move to Utrecht of the Eredivisie. Two years later he and teammate Kevin Strootman were transferred to PSV Eindhoven for a combined fee of €13 million, and won the KNVB Cup and Johan Cruyff Shield in 2012. In 2013, Mertens signed for Napoli for a €9.6 million fee and has since made over 300 appearances for the club. He won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana in 2014, and was named in the Serie A Team of the Year during the 2016–17 season. In 2020, he scored his 122nd goal for the club, surpassing Marek Hamšík as Napoli's all-time top goalscorer.Mertens made his Belgium debut in 2011 and has since made over 100 appearances for the national team. He was also part of the nation's squads at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, the 2018 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2020, helping them to a third-place finish at the 2018 tournament. In 2016, he was named Belgian Footballer of the Year.
1987May, 6
Dries Mertens
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Events on 1987
- 27Apr
Kurt Waldheim
The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the USA, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. - 1May
Auschwitz concentration camp
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. - 5Jul
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic. - 27Jul
RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic. - 7Nov
Habib Bourguiba
In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.