Napoli icon Diego Maradona has long been a fan of Dries Mertens, it has been revealed.

Mertens' two goals in the Champions League 3-2 victory at RB Salzburg, took him to 116 goals with Napoli - one more than Maradona.

The Belgian now has his sights set on Marek Hamsik's all-time club record of 121 goals.

“Diego has always been a supporter of Mertens and believed in him, even when the Belgian wasn't playing very much," Maradona's representative Stefano Ceci told Radio Kiss Kiss.

“I remember full well after Arkadiusz Milik's injury that Diego said Napoli already had the replacement in-house with a real phenomenon called Mertens."