Newcastle United’s striker, Aleksandar Mitrovic who is currently serving a loan spell with Fulham has admitted his desires to continue playing for EFL Championship side. The 23-year-old was quoted, “My first target is to get promoted with Fulham directly first if we can, the second thing is the World Cup. I will leave World Cup until the end of the season, but at the moment I’m really focused with Fulham, the team and my game and try to improve in training and help the team every game I can.”
“It’s a good feeling to be here and I am looking forward to every game and I want to play and get on the pitch, this is the reason I’m here. I think Fulham needs me and I need Fulham, we both need each other and I’m really happy.”
Mitrovic has started 3 of the 5 league games after his arrival in January and has already racked up 2 goals. He slotted one in on Sunday to sink league leaders, Wolves, 2 goals to nil. His bulky physical presence inside the box has turned out to be the game changer for the Lillywhites and the 23-year-old Serbian has added a new dimension to their attack.
A product of the FK Partizan youth setup having passed the ranks with flying colours, Mitrovic made himself known among Europe with a 44 goal tally in 93 appearances for Belgian side, RSC Anderlecht. He helped the side win their 33rd title in his debut season and was deemed to be the next big thing in European football.
Of course, Premier League sides came sniffing around and Newcastle United emerged with the best offer for the young striker giving him the number nine role in the starting XI. He arrived at St. James Park for a fee of £13m and expressed his eagerness to replicate the performances of club legend, Alan Shearer.
At the time it looked all was set for the future and the fans could rest easy with an ambitious and effective goal scorer up top, but things didn’t quite turn out that way. Mitrovic has a very mediocre first season in the Premier League with just 9 goals in 36 games and saw the club get relegated to the Championship.
He was given a fair amount of chances in his second season as well but failed to uphold the standards of Benitez and was dropped down the pecking order behind the likes of Dwight Gayle.
Fulham are on a brilliant run of form in recent times which has boosted them to the 5th spot of the points table, well poised to earn promotion through the playoffs. Obviously, Mitrovic will play a key part for the remainder of the season and Benitez might have to let the 23-year-old leave in the summer.
