According to the Times, Fulham are now moving closer to sealing the permanent signing of Aleksandar Mitrovic, with Newcastle setting his price tag at £20m following Serbia’s exit from the World Cup this week.
As we know, the World Cup was a chance for the 23-year-old’s price tag to rocket, but far more missed chances than goals (despite him always looking a handful) has probably seen us stick to our £20m valuation.
Some will say we should be demanding more for a player of his age/potential, but this is a player Brighton bid just £8m for in January – and we can’t forget just how important his sale will be towards Rafa being given funds to sign a striker of his choice.
The Times state that Fulham are now pressing on with their attempts to sign him now his country have exited the World Cup and, for Rafa’s sake, let’s hope this one gets done and dusted as soon as possible.
There’ll be plenty fans who have every right to believe we should be keeping a hold of him and giving him another chance given his rise to form over the last 6 months, but when you consider how unlikely Benitez seems to play him, is it not wise to cash in and sign a player Rafa’s actually going to play?