With off the field drama dominating Newcastle United’s headlines, a solution to Benitez’s transfer conundrum is right in front of his eyes.
One of last season’s major themes was the Magpies’ lack of a quality finisher, and despite the impressive efforts of Ayoze Perez, the club are continuing to look at striking options going forward.
But this transfer window has been particularly disappointing for Toon fans, to the point where discontent over the funds at Benitez’s disposal reached the U.K. Parliament in recent days – and rightly so. Since the transfer window began Newcastle have only managed two permanent signings, with Korea captain Ki Sung-yueng arriving on a free transfer and last season loanee goalkeeper Martin Dubravka signing for £4m.
Given that Mikel Merino was recently sold to Real Sociedad for £12m and Chancel Mbemba to Porto for around £8m, Benitez in theory should have the funds available to splash the cash on a new striker. However, the club has been unable to sell Mitrovic since placing a valuation of around £20m for the Serbian, and it could be that without his sale Benitez will not receive a competitive transfer budget with less than a month until the new Premier League season.
It’s understood that there was a clear break in the relationship between Benitez and Mitrovic, but even with such differences, the 23-year-old Serbian international remains a fan favourite, and he showed his quality with 12 goals in 20 appearances leading Fulham to promotion last season.
Mitrovic’s form has varied massively in a Newcastle shirt, but he’s a young player with tons of room for improvement. He already has fantastic strength and solid hold up play, and this combined with tireless determination and a visibly improved finishing ability could be the catalyst Newcastle need to build upon last season’s great defensive work, but lack of goals.
Recent reports from Sky Sports News have revealed that Fulham are only willing to bid £16m for Mitro, but Newcastle are asking for closer to £18m. Unfortunately for the club, Mitro only managed 1 goal in 4 matches at the 2018 World Cup, and no doubt Benitez was included among those hoping for a better display to inflate the Serbian’s transfer value.
With clubs around Newcastle such as Brighton and West Ham in particular already spending large sums of money, the Magpies really should reconsider selling Mitro to another Premier League side for less than £20m. Finishing 10th last season was a brilliant result overall, but next season could repeat the same relegation drama but this time with far more improved teams around the club.
Benitez is obviously an extremely talented manager, but he cannot afford to make a mistake with a player who could play a big part in keeping Newcastle in the Premier League next season. If Mitro cannot be sold at a decent price, there’s no value in selling him simply because he has been unwilling to follow Benitez’s instructions in the past.
With Kenedy back at the club, and Ayoze Perez and Jonjo Shelvey off the back of perhaps their best ever seasons, Newcastle are not short of creativity. Ayoze had to step up last season and become the club’s top goalscorer with 8 goals, but his priority should be on supplying the forwards and not forced to become the main goalscoring threat.
Even a disgruntled Mitro is far better than a re-run of Joselu or Dwight Gayle, but if Benitez swallows his pride we could see the 23-year-old flourish in the top flight wearing the Toon’s colours.