OPINION
Newcastle United must put plans in motion to sell Aleksandar Mitrovic rather their twiddle their thumbs, as his sale would hand Rafa Benitez enough money to get his transfer plans underway.
The Chronicle reported on Friday that Benitez had been given a headache regarding his transfer budget, which is still unknown, as the Magpies weren’t set to receive their next portion of Premier League TV money for almost two months.
By that time the summer window will have mere weeks left and due to this the Magpies manager is already fearing that he will have to sell players in order to get funds.
The newspaper also claims that as Benitez’s future is up in the air, he’s been unable to forge on with pursuing transfer targets, which in turn implies he hasn’t been able to get exit deals in place for those deemed deadwood either.
While Benitez is rightly preoccupied with securing his own future, that doesn’t mean obvious deals that need to be conducted should be allowed to stall.
Especially in the case of getting rid of Mitrovic as his sale would cure Benitez’s headache at least for the first weeks of the window.
The Magpies are set to demand £20million plus, according to the Chronicle, for the powerhouse centre-forward and his long list of admirers will see that demand swiftly met.
The local newspaper in the same report claimed that Fulham, Marseille, Bordeaux, Anderlecht, Brighton and Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers were all thought to be interested, with a bidding war likely to be sparked.
Mitrovic may be focusing on Fulham right now, as he’s on loan at the club and set to compete for them in the Championship play-off final, but that doesn’t mean the club shouldn’t get the ball rolling regarding his exit.
If the Cottagers miss out on signing the forward, who scored 12 goals in 19 games for them since January, as they’re busy focusing on bigger things, who cares as long as the Magpies get their money.
Therefore the Magpies must shift Mitrovic out of the club now, and not waste time, as his sale is enough to swiftly cure Benitez of his budget-induced headache.
