With a goalscorer being the biggest thing missing from Newcastle United’s squad at the moment, it might pain them to see that the Championship top scorer used to be a magpie.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is having another prolific season in the second-tier, and after just 30 games in the Championship this season, he has 21 goals to his name, as well as one assist.
Meanwhile, in the entire Premier League campaign, United have amounted a tally of just 24 goals in 26 matches – so you can understand why this might frustrate a few fans.
This looks even worse when you consider how many of these goals came from strikers, with their only one being Joelinton’s goal against Spurs in August.
This week, the Serbian centre forward spoke to the Daily Mail and told them about how he will always love the club that brought him to England.
Mitrovic spent three years contracted to the club between the years of 2015 and 2018, failing to ever quite click with Rafael Benitez who was in charge at the time. He was later sold to Fulham after helping them getting promoted the season prior, with them earning £15m from his sale.
When speaking to the Mail, he explained why things didn’t quite go to plan, while also confessing that he will always love the place.
He said: “They expect me to make things happen.
“It’s a new experience for me.
“When I came to Newcastle I was very young. The period I needed to settle in… I didn’t have one. I was expected to play straight away and score goals, like Papiss Cisse did a few years before.
“I will always love Newcastle, but that was a big problem for me.”
Would you welcome Mitrovic back at St. James'?
Yes
No
Hindsight will tell the club that they probably made a mistake in letting him go – even with a juicy £15m payoff.
Obviously, if Salomon Rondon was still at the club this might not have been an issue, but perhaps it was short-sighted of them to sell the player while not actually getting Rondon on a permanent transfer. With that saga playing out, they ended up paying £40m for Joelinton, who has obviously contributed very little in his time thus far.