Al Hilal have confirmed another big money signing as former Newcastle striker Alexander Mitrovic joins from Fulham in a club-record £50m deal.
The Serbian becomes the latest player to leave for a Saudi Arabian side a few weeks after Allan Saint-Maximin left St James’ Park for Al-Ahli in a deal worth £25m.
If nothing else, it makes you question two things. Firstly, why was the fee for Saint-Maximin so low, as Mitrovic is not twice the player ASM is and turs 29 next month. Second of all, it makes a mockery of those Premier League clubs complaining that £25m was not fair market value for ASM.
With the winger being one of our only sellable assets at the club, it could’ve been hugely beneficial to receive a larger fee as he made his move to Saudi. For me, they got Saint-Maximin at a bargain fee in the current market.
As Mitrovic’s big money move has proven, it seems so many other Premier League clubs receive hugely inflated fees for their players, while we’re forced to except modest offers to make sure there’s no related party breaches between the club and PIF.
Here’s a photo of Mitro at his new club, where he’ll play alongside the likes of Neymar, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly:
1. we know why the st maximan fee was so low. Newcastle right now don’t have the clout to influence the PL so need to play it safe. the PL is a business and while the league is sellable as a whole the long term jewels of the league in the eyes of those who run it are the cartel and so the cartel get to set the narrative. That’s already changing as more nufc are in the top tv slots
2. Of course any thoughts of over pricing were a mockery which is why it never went anywhere
So here’s some reasons to be patient and just enjoy the fact that we’re rocking the world of the cartel right now
1. Those running nufc are really ******* smart and driven.
2. Those running nufc are angry at the constraints the cartel are imposing.
3. Eddie Howe
If you haven’t seen WANU, all three of those things are very very apparent. The time will come when nufc are calling the shots. I suspect the club will not forget.
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Andrew – I understand you questioning, but when players are being sold for £100m plus – that’s where the questions are for me.
The point of the rule was that we clubs didn’t over inflate the market – Chelsea today had Enzo, Caicedo and Mudryk all on the pitch at over £300m – you could buy NUFC for that!! – and that’s only around a third of their spend.
The rule was brought in after Saudi bought NUFC and all other clubs feared what we MIGHT do – we HAVENT but while they’ve been watch us, Chelsea have made a mockery of their rule.
This the club already fined for breaching prior these owners coming in!! – the whole things a joke mate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
You’re making a point that I don’t think you really want to be making.
Everything you have said just proves how dodgy the sale of St Maximin to Al Ahli actually was.
Newcastle needed an injection of cash so they could stay on the right side of FFP and bring in Barnes, but nobody came in for Maxi, because while he was a superstar at SJP he seriously lacked end product.
So after some brief discussions with PIF head office, Al Ahli appear out of nowhere and took him off our hands. The original leaked 30 million price tag was a feeler to see if there would be any objection to that as a “fair market value” price, then the deal was done.
Maxi’s actual sale price was based on how much we needed and what PIF thought they could get away with. Mitro’s price is a more accurate evaluation of what he player is worth.
BykerBill(Quote)
Mitrovic is a top class striker. He keeps Dusan Vlahovic on the bench for Serbia and has consistently performed at the highest level. Fulham had no need or desire to sell him. Personally I think if anything he was undervalued.
ASM is very much none of those things. He isn’t anywhere near the top in his position, he doesn’t play for France, he has never produced regularly and Newcastle didn’t need him and had to sell.
Noone else would have paid £25m for him.
Tim Sutton-Coulson(Quote)
Byker bill on a conspiracy theory and whataboutery .. Milan came in for maxi only last January .. plenty of clubs obviously interested .. nobody came for mitorovic .. Saudi overpaid for mitro. He was rated at a lower price on Transfermarket than maxi … but maxi on Transfermarket was rated at approx £27 million .. so the price paid reflects that …folk should do research before giving flawed opinions
Mike(Quote)
The transfer which needed to be investigated, but won’t be , is Steven Gerrard giving Liverpool 13 million for Henderson. Any other club in the world and it’s a free.
Colin Armstrong(Quote)