The Times are reporting that Fulham will step up their interest in Aleksandar Mitrovic now Serbia are out of the World Cup.
The tournament has certainly played a role in our lack of transfer business so far this summer. The 23-year-old could be sold for as much as £20m, and with Mike Ashley having told Rafa Benitez that his signings will have to be funded (at least in part) by player sales, it may be the case that the Serbian’s exit from the club could at last lead to some movement in the transfer market.
Personally, I would be disappointed to see Mitro leave. He has shown over the past few months for both club and country what he is capable of. I am certain he has the ability to score at least 15 goals a season in the Premier League, but the fact is, he isn’t rated that highly by the manager.
If he isn’t going to be part of our first-team plans, we need to sell him at the earliest opportunity. Although Fulham are the frontrunners, there will hopefully be other suitors as well. His performances in Russia would have likely put him in the sights of other European teams, but whether any could come up with a fee that we would accept, we’ll have to see.
In any case, if we do sell the Serbian close to his asking price, in addition to the funds from the imminent sale of Mikel Merino, that will at least give Rafa some room for manoeuvre. There has been talk about selling Matt Ritchie to increase the transfer budget, but that may not be required if we get an additional £30m-£35m for the Mitrovic/Merino sales.
The Chronicle believes that an additional £40m to £50m from Premier League TV money will supplement any sales, and that should hopefully increase funds to around the £80m mark hypothetically.
If we do get around that figure for spending, then we can least kick-start this transfer window, and begin building a squad closer to what Rafa needs. That may sound a bit too optimistic as there are no guarantees with Mike Ashley, but I’m hoping for Rafa’s sake, he at least gets that much.