THREE reasons why Aleksandar Mitrovic won’t be leaving for Brighton in January

Yesterday saw news emerge that Brighton have registered an interest in Aleksandar Mitrovic ahead of the upcoming January transfer window. It makes sense for Chris Hughton, whose side has scored just 5 goals in 7 games this season, but here’s three reasons why I can’t see this one happening:

Selling to a rival

We’d prefer for this not to be the case, but Brighton must be seen as a possible relegation rival this season. They’ve struggled for goals thus far and even if Benitez may not rate him, Mitrovic would improve their forward line considerably, thus bettering a team who we’ll be competing with this season. It’s not in our interests to help out a team we could be scrapping with for Premier League survival come next May.

The asking price

Mitrovic was regularly linked with a potential move away last summer, however it was reported that Newcastle chiefs would want to recoup in excess of the £13m fee paid for him over two years ago.

Despite expected frustrations over a lack of game time, he does love the club, so you’d imagine won’t be pushing for a move in January, meaning we’d only sell if an acceptable offer arrived.

Mitro’s been superb for Serbia and started his NUFC season well prior to his 3-match ban, but are they about to weigh in with an offer in the region of £15m for a player who scored 4 goals in the Championship last season?

It’d rely on a replacement arriving

Benitez wants a new striker as it is, so there’s no chance of Mitrovic being sold unless a replacement was lined up. January is a difficult month to do business, with high prices and clubs naturally unwilling to do business mid-season, so signing a striker (one of the hardest areas to recruit in) will be a task in itself.

We’d only sanction the sale of Mitrovic if a replacement was secured and not only are strikers hard to come by and expensive (especially in January!), things could be quite up in the air at board level by that stage, with a potential takeover meaning Ashley is even less likely to pump money into a club he’s about to leave.

The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas has shared these thoughts and has probably got it pretty spot on here:

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About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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