Staggering claims emerge on Aleksandar Mitrovic's potential exit at NUFC
According to Football Insider, Newcastle United have received and rejected an incredible 22 loan offers for Aleksandar Mitrovic already this month - however no one has matched our £14m asking-price for the striker thus far.
The Serbian has been missing over the past month with a back injury, however it has been widely accepted that he has little to no future under Rafa Benitez, having been left out of the NUFC squad more times than not so far this season.
A penny for Mitro's thoughts, with him likely to be desperate to secure a move away after receiving so little game time recently - especially when he'll want to be fit and firing for the World Cup in the summer.
It has been made clear that he is looking to be moved on this month, however his exit only looks likely if 1) an acceptable permanent offer arrives (alleged £14m asking price) and 2) a replacement if found by Benitez.
Quite incredibly, Football Insider have revealed that the club have received 22 (yes twenty-two!) loan proposals for the 23-year-old already this month:
https://twitter.com/SportsPeteO/status/953591014228463616
It is claimed that Brighton, West Brom, Bordeaux, Marseille, Anderlecht and Partizan Belgrade are among some of the sides who've put in loan bids for the forward.
One thing that seems clear is that NUFC won't be accepting any of these loan offers unless a replacement arrives. It's a fair approach. What would we gain from loaning out our third choice striker (who would suddenly be needed if Joselu got injured) if we did not have a replacement lined up.
If we could secure a loan signing for the likes of Ings, Sakho or Slimano, it would then make sense to let Mitro leave on loan, but until that happens you can't blame Rafa for keeping him at the club.
Hopefully there's a resolution to this that suits all parties. Mitrovic is still young but will be desperate for game time ahead of a big summer for him at the World Cup. On the flip side, we're desperate for a new option up top, and Mitrovic's exit would free up room in our 25-man squad to enable this.
