Newcastle host Fulham at St James’ Park this afternoon with a former Magpie lining up for the opposition.
Aleksandar Mitrovic spent three years at Newcastle from 2015 to 2018 before making the switch to Craven Cottage.
He became somewhat of a legend on Tyneside. Endearing himself to the fans by admitting that his hero was Alan Shearer, Mitrovic always gave 100% when he played. Unfortunately, that sometimes resulted in some, shall we say, rash decisions. Mitro was a bit of a “heed the ball” in his youth and was just as likely to get booked as he was to score. We’ll chalk it up to youth and enthusiasm.
During his spell on Tyneside Mitro managed to bag 14 goals in 65 appearances, which isn’t a bad return for a young striker, but it is at Fulham were he really started to flourish. Mitro made the Championship his own bagging 43 goals in 44 games in the 2021/22 season.
Many thought that he’d found his level and the Premier League is just a step too far for him, but he’s proving those doubters wrong with 11 goals in 15 games so far this term.
Ahead of the clash at St James’ Park, Mitrovic has spoken to The Athletic about his time at Newcastle saying: “After six months at Newcastle, you find out that everyone has had the same seat for 10 years or maybe even longer. You go out to warm up and recognise everybody in the front row. ‘How are you, my friend?’. I’d speak to people and they’d say, ‘It used to be my grandad going to matches here, next it will be my kids’.
“They live for football, you know? They live for the weekend to see their team. When friends in Serbia ask me about England, I tell them about Newcastle because football is like a religion to these people.
“They gave me the chance to play in the Premier League, aged 20. It’s a massive club and I still support them. Everything that’s happened there, with the new owner and all the money, it’s fully deserved for the fans. They are the best in England, maybe in the world.”
Mitrovic will be a tough test for our back line today and I fear he may be the one to finally breach that defence.