Rafa Benitez has admitted that Aleksandar Mitrovic is now all set to join Fulham, wishing the Serbian all the best ahead of his move to Craven Cottage and hoping that he scores ‘lots of goals’ – just not against us!
It was revealed last night that Fulham had now agreed a fee with Newcastle , with them believed to be paying an initial £22m which could even rise to £27m with ‘add ons’.
The Serbian left our training camp in Portugal last night and should now be back in the UK, ready to put pen to paper with Fulham ahead of a permanent move to West London.
Here’s what Rafa’s had to say on his imminent exit:
“I think it’s done. I think he has an agreement with Fulham & I wish him all the best.
“Hopefully he can score a lot of goals but not against us!
“But it’s something we were expecting & it’s a case of looking to see if we can bring someone else to replace him.”
“We are working and trying to bring in new players to bring in new competition.”
Rafa Benitez has just confirmed to me he still needs another striker after the capture of Muto and sale of Mitrović. Asked him if that included keeping Gayle and he said “it depends.”
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) July 28, 2018
Speaking of his replacement, it looks like West Brom’s Salomon Rondon could be that man.
Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but there’s some pace gathering to claims that we will complete some sort of ‘swap deal’ seeing Rondon arrive and Dwight Gayle go the other way.
Would you be happy if Rondon and Muto arrived at Mitrovic and Gayle’s expense?
With Muto, we will have 26 senior players, including Saivet, Sterry, Aarons, Lazaar and Hayden. Lejeune is out until at least January. Looks like Sterry will be right back cover for Yedlin, Manquillo for Dummett. Not sure where Aarons, Saivet or Lazaar fit in. If Hayden leaves we’ll need 3 just for a full squad of 25. 💡
Toontaff(Quote)
Even if we swap Rondon for Gayle we will still need to get a top striker to replace mitrovic..Also we need another ch and an attacking midfielder
John ellis(Quote)