Aleksandar Mitrovic remains convinced that he made the right decision to join boyhood club Newcastle despite being ostracised by Rafa Benitez.
The Serbia international striker was relegated to fourth-choice by Benitez this season and didn’t start a Premier League match this season before joining Fulham on loan in the final hours of the January transfer window.
It’s not how Mitrovic, who impressed on his first start for the Cottagers in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, envisaged his United career would go after joining from Anderlecht for £13 million in 2015 and endearing himself to the fans over the next two-and-a-half years.
Discipline issues slowly saw the trust Benitez had in him erode and led to accusations that he made a mistake in joining the club he supports, but Mitrovic is adamant he made the right choice to sign for Newcastle.
“They [Newcastle] are big names in Serbian football, and here in English football, and they told me it’s the hardest league in the world, so I wanted to see what it was like,” The Chronicle report Mitrovic as saying in the official Fulham match programme.
“I joined Newcastle because from a young age I supported them. I don’t why, but they had black-and-white colours, the same colours as Partizan Belgrade.
“I chose Newcastle and I didn’t make a mistake.”
Mitrovic will hoping to use his time as a Fulham player to regain match sharpness and prove himself to Benitez and Serbia coach Mladen Krstajić with the World Cup in Russia around the corner.
