Gregory Mertens' Death Mourned By Belgians In Premier League, Leading Teams

Gregory Mertens’ untimely death shocked Belgian soccer, and England’s Premier League is feeling the reverberations.

Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois, Everton’s Romelu Lukaku and Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj shared messages of condolences Thursday following the death of Mertens, who suffered and on-field heart attack during a game Monday and died three days later. Belgians Courtois, Lukaku and Januzaj are mourning Mertens, who formerly played for their country’s U-21 national team and represented Sporting Lokeren before his passing.

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Premier League heavyweights Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City also shared messages of support on Twitter, as did England’s players union.

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Mertens’ death also hit home for Fabrice Muamba, whose Premier League career ended instantly in March 2012 when he suffered a heart attack in front of a global audience.

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Lokeren will play its Jupiler Pro League (Belgian first division) game against Westerlo on Friday, as scheduled, according to the BBC. There also will be a minute’s silence at all games in Belgium on Friday.

The Premier League is unlikely to follow suit, as Mertens never played outside of Belguim, but Courtois, Januzaj, Lukaku and others likely will play this weekend’s round of games with their fallen countryman in mind.