Dries Mertens
Overview
 
Dries Mertens is a Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 footballer currently playing for Dutch Eredivisie
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....

 club PSV Eindhoven.
As a schoolboy Mertens was picked up by Belgian giants Anderlecht
R.S.C. Anderlecht
Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht or RSCA , is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht in the Brussels Capital Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian Pro League and is the most successful Belgian football team in European competitions as well as in the...

, well known for its youth academy. He never broke through the first team, and therefore he moved AA Gent. After playing in the youth department and the reserves in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

, he was promoted to the first team.
Quotations

[When the Allied forces fire on him] Why are you always messing with me. It's got to be a joke!

[Convincing Shimizu not to kill himself] We can die here, or we can continue fighting. Which would better serve the emperor?

[Letter to his wife] We soldiers dig. We dig all day. This is the hole that we will fight and die in. Am I digging my own grave?

[About Nishi's romancing skills] There are rumors about his womanizing...But there are no women left to woo.

[In response to a soldier saying death is honorable] Kashiwara died of honorable dysentery.

There is no use for a dead soldier.

Damn this island! The Americans can have it.

Do what is right because it is right.

If you want my honest opinion, General, the best thing to do would be to sink this island to the bottom of the sea.

I'm tired of sharing this cave with all of you, I'm a one-man show from now on.

 
x
OK