Arsenal may be able to buy Napoli forward Dries Mertens for £29m, according to latest reports from Italy.

The Napoli forward signed a new contract at the club last May which included a release clause of £25m. According to Calciomercato, there’s a condition in his contract that will increase that release clause to £29m should Napoli win the Serie A title.

Napoi are currently top of the table, having won seven out of seven games and scoring 25 goals in the process. Mertens has seven of those goals, picking up from the 28 league goals he scored last season.

For a striker of his quality, £29m would be a tremendous bargain, in my opinion, given the amount of that clubs have to spend to sign top quality forwards these days. However, at 30-years of age, he wouldn’t represent a long-term investment for any clubs.

Napoli are believed to be keen to remove that release clause. Mertens spent most of his career playing either on the left or right wing, and proved to be inconsistent. Due to an injury crisis, he ended up playing through the middle and entered an incredible run of form.

He could be an option for Arsenal to replace Alexis Sanchez should the Chilean leave the club for free at the end of the season.