After Claudio Ranieri’s claim over the weekend that Aleksandar Mitrovic was one of the world’s best strikers, TalkSPORT’s Adrian Durham has trumped him with some even more ridiculous quotes about the Serb.
Speaking on the radio show, Durham stated that Mitrovic would get in any side in the world apart from Newcastle and Barcelona – saying he’d walk into Real Madrid’s current side and is ‘at the vert least’ a ‘top four striker in this country’.
Before I have my say, here’s Durham’s extraordinary comments in full:
” Mitrovic is an absolute top class striker- I promise you. If you don’t believe me, go and watch him; his movement. He’s a pest , he’s annoying, he’s a finisher – he has got the lot”
”I think he’d get into any side in the world with the exception of two teams, Barcelona and Rafa’s Newcastle. They’re only two sides he wouldn’t get into – I promise you – he’s that good”
“He’s a top four striker in this country at the very least. Real Madrid were beaten 3-0 at the weekend, he’d walk into their side right now.”
Mitrovic has looked very good in spells this season, and seems to work well in the system that Fulham play, especially in the 4-3-3 system that Slavisa Jokanovic set up before he was sacked, however these claims are a little far fetched.
Durham has had a history of negative or purposefully controversial quotes about Newcastle and often comes out in defence of Mike Ashley, much to the fans annoyance – so I cant help but think that these quotes from Durham are more a dig at Newcastle than anything else.
He obviously wants us to think that selling Mitrovic was a mistake, and in turn perhaps turn on Rafa because of that.
The Serb has come into his own this season, holding up the ball really well and being a real handful for any centre half, but, in my opinion he is a confidence player. Whilst things are going well, he will do great. However as soon as things go against him, he struggles. To be classed as a world class striker he needs to be scoring consistently and bagging 20+ a season year on year.
Durham claims he’s a top four striker, but he wouldn’t get in any of the top sixes starting line ups – that I’m quite sure of.
I am not denying that in time, Mitrovic COULD become a world class striker, but at present he is a solid Premier League striker at best.
His age means that he has plenty time to develop and his temperament has improved massively since his Newcastle days, but I just cant get past the fact that it is a cheap dig by Adrian Durham to get a reaction from Newcastle fans, not to mention publicity and more listeners for his radio show.
Having watch Mitro vs Southampton on MoD the best I would say of his performance is that he would never have got those goals if their defence had been awake and quicker to cover!
Brian Hall(Quote)