A deal between Newcastle and Anderlecht for 20 year-old striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is getting close with reports in Belgium saying that everything is set to go through, once his father is persuaded that Newcastle is a good club for his young son to join.
Anderlecht kept the player out of a practice game today against Istanbul side Basaksehir – with the player watching from the stands.
Aleksandar Mitrovic – watching from the stands today
HLN.be are keeping tabs on the situation and this is what they have reported:
¨No Aleksandar Mitrovic today in the practice game between Anderlecht and Turkish side Basaksehir.¨
¨However manager Besnik Hasi had said the Serbian striker would be in all the matches – a transfer to Newcastle is therefore getting closer.¨
¨Meanwhile, the parents of Aleksandar are already in northern England.¨ It is especially his father Mitrovic who stands in the way of a final transition.¨
¨But when he looks at the numbers in the contract, and is also shown around the impressive St James ‘ Park, that could be the last stumbling block that can quickly fall.¨
It looks like Mitrovic’s father is the key person who still needs to be persuaded, but there are also reports the 20 year-old striker could be flying to Newcastle in the next 24 hours.
If that happens of course that would be a (very) good sign.
HLN Sports Journalist Niels Vleminckx has sent out this tweet earlier today regarding the situation:
#Mitrovic isn’t playing in the Anderlecht friendly this afternoon. His family is in #Newcastle now. I’ll let you draw the conclusions…
— Niels Vleminckx (@NielsVleminckx) July 12, 2015
It looks like Porto and Roma are not coming in with any new bids, so the ball seems to be in Newcastle’s court to persuade Aleksandar and his family – but especially his father Mitrovic – that Newcastle is a good club for his son to join.
The other thing that is happening is that Anderlecht are trying to get striker Imoh Ezekiel of Qatari club Al-Arabi SC on a one year loan deal, to cover for Mitrovic who is expected to join some club (hopefully us) this summer.
Anderlecht are said today to be close to getting a deal agreed – so id that happens Mitrovic’s father is really key to everything.
If Newcastle are to be successful, the next step would be news that Aleksandar has been told to join his father and agent at Newcastle.
Here’s hoping.
Comments welcome.
262 comments so far
GeordieTwo
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:14 PM
Comment #1We want Mit!!! We want Mit!!!!
Howay lads, chant it together!!!
GeordieTwo
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Comment #2Imagine Mit steaming down the pitch, knocking Rivi oot of the way and letting loose with a piledriver!!! This is beautiful thinking!!! Positive waves people!!!!
GeordieTwo
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Comment #3Isn’t anybody else excited yet??? Harrumph…
GeordieTwo
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:17 PM
Comment #4I hear Mit’s granny is now in the Toon as well!!! And we have the Belgian midget strikers to convince the family!!! Beautiful.
Novocastrian66
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:18 PM
Comment #5Sterling on his way to Man City.
PapissGottaBrandNewBag
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:20 PM
Comment #6@GeordieTwo
I will be excited once he signs on the dotted line my only worry is we don’t wanna leave it too long. I hope as well we sell a few of the deadwood bring in a winger another striker and 2 centre backs
funkness
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:21 PM
Comment #7Repost from last thread:
@Lilongwe Geordie: We are in agreement. Mitrovic and Austin are way to similar. One of the two and a more mobile player would make sense though. I would prefer the mobile player to be a specialist wide forward though. I’ve been banging the drum all day about N’Tep. Not only do I see him as an ideal player for the wide left role – he would probably also cost half of Berahino ..
@BandB: I agree with your assessment of Perez’s role.
@ShireBrookToon: I agree with you in regards to us needing a LB.
Dummett should be used as a CB, as he isn’t good enough on the left, I think. That leaves us short, just as we are a backup short for Janmaat on the right. I know Anita and Colback can fill in, but let’s have some more specialists across the pitch instead of too many versatile players.
On that note, now that we have got Wijnaldum signed, let’s go back to PSV and rid them of Jetro Willems. He is strong, quick, defensively aware and even pitched in with 15 assists last season – the boy can cross!
No ideas for RB at present. Any suggestions (dreams)?
AmeriToon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:23 PM
Comment #8Repost
Think it would make no sense to swap Thauvin for Cabella. Thauvin seems to have a bad attitude. Plus he’ll have the same problem that Cabella had adapting to the prem in his first season. With some decent coaching and this being his second season we may actually seem some of end product from cabella this season. He should play better with De Jong fit, Wijnaldum, and Mitrovic to hold up the ball
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:27 PM
Comment #9Ameritoon
Cabella needs to improve every facet of his game, more importantly he needs to cut out the pointless stepovers
funkness
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:28 PM
Comment #10I agree AmeriToon. I don’t get why you would ship out Cabella already. The former coaching setup was a complete disaster, and talk of Pardew not even wanting him in the first place has been mentioned many times. Let’s give him a season under a coach with a positive footballing philosophy and better players around him ..
GeordieTwo
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:29 PM
Comment #11Well…..I’m excited at any rate. Harrumph.
Toon-Prodigy
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:29 PM
Comment #12Im in two minds about this fella, it looks to me we were not his first choice but have offered him a great deal with a five year deal and a good platform to greater things if he were to succeed here.
With saying that, he looks a good goal scorer and would do well leading the line at NUFC. Big lad aswell which would give us a great aerial threat, that pleases me. I do worry about the pace around him though and crosses into the box.
Arrons is nippy and this new dutch lad seems to have a bit of pace but on the wings we seem to lack. Sissoko if he stays is not a winger. De Jong very little pace also. Tiote, Colback, Anita very little pace again. I don’t expect Marveux to play a part this season.
Would love to see some pace brought in for the flanks if we nail this Mitrovic.
Toon-Prodigy
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:31 PM
Comment #13On Cabella I have serious doubts he will cut it in this league.
Tsunki
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:41 PM
Comment #14I’d still be a lot happier if we got some decent defenders in. If they hoof the ball over our fancy Dan forwards and midfielders À La Stoke and the like we are still doomed. Doomed I tells ya!
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:42 PM
Comment #15Toon prodigy
Agreed Cabella won’t cut it in the prem, his decision making and then application is so poor, worse than obertan and that’s saying something
armchair fan
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:43 PM
Comment #16I also have doubts on Cabella. Having said that, he was under poor management and was adjusting to the premier league in an under performing team.
I’d give him till next summer before selling him back to the French ligue
JDdubai
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:44 PM
Comment #17Thauvin had a bad season but his ability is huge. Would like to see him come in but looks unlikely even though he is a favourite of Carr.
Mitrovic, 1 winger, CB, and then FB cover and we arent too bad.obviously in an ideal world it would be 2 CBs but no chance realistically.
Next summer should be interesting with Saylor, Willo and Colo out of contract finally, as well as Obertan.
Tsunki
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:46 PM
Comment #18I’m hoping that these lads if and when they come in will be the first pieces in a jigsaw which show other areas where we lack. SM will know better than anyone we need speed going forward and up until now service from midfield has been like treacle. I just hope that we aren’t going to ride out multiple transfer windows slowly building up the right team, the lads we just got might decide to be on their way to the big hitters before they get the support they need.
JDdubai
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:47 PM
Comment #19Ourtoon
I still remember Pires at Arsenal, his first season was utter crap, so many wanted rid of him and that was with Wenger as boss. They stuck with him and he got upto speed with the Pl in his second year and became a top player.
Think it is only fair to give Cabella another year to see how he adapts, especially with a new coaching team, decent investment and no real top quality alternatives out wide.
Tsunki
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:48 PM
Comment #20I guess we’ll see soon whether lack of ability or lack of proper coaching is hampering Cabella.
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:48 PM
Comment #21Armchair
The biggest concern I have with Cabella is that he just didn’t show any quality. 45 mins against chelsea he was decent however he didn’t score or get an assist and Chelsea worked him out in 2nd 45mins. Hull he scored a very good goal bit apart from that he showed nothing but utter incompetence time and time again. Even players that adjust show more quality in spurts than Cabella did for a whole season
Blackley and Brownlie
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:49 PM
Comment #22Rabbits
“Blackley you are adamant that Ashley said in his interview that the target next season was top 4 finish. Did you take my advice and go and listen to it?”
I didn’t need to. I didn’t say he said that. He didn’t put a time frame on it. What he did was make a bold, ambitious statement. He implied substantial investment in top players to get us to top 4. He is now going to bolt the horse to the cart. What’s to stop him doing that right now? I’m simply saying we may not get top 4, but there’s no reason not to target it this season.
But, it all depends on whether he spends the sort of money that will get us there. As things stand, we’re unlikely to make the top half never mind the top 8. We still need many more top players and a complete squad overhaul. We also need to hope the regime’s choice of coaching team is the right one.
Unfortunately, Charnley seems to have misplaced the bolts to attach the horse to the cart. He’s been dithering about so long that he’s forgotten where he put them down. He might want to search through the ever expanding mountain of horse dung.
firebug666
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #23I said on an earlier thread that I’m not convinced about Mitrovic, I would think that if he wanted to be here then it would be a done deal.
Do we really need a player who’s head is already somewhere else, a player who will likely want away at every transfer window especially if we do not make it into Europe.
He has a great deal of potential to offer our club, and gives us something we need in attack, but would his heart be in it? Would he, his father and his agent be pushing for a CL move at every opportunity?
Like most fans I would love to have him here, but does he want it?
Tsunki
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #24Didn’t Cabella come on against Citeh? I seem to remember he tried hard, pulled a few tricks and actually showed some good positional sense, but he just seemed like a rabbit in the headlights after that.
Toon-Prodigy
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Comment #25Our Toon,
Obertan is another one, has the pace but lacks ability, also Gouffran aswell.
With Cabella I’v seen very little to suggest he could blow the league up next year, very few flashes. I see someone that could be highly inconsistent. A ben Arfa in the making maybe. If there is a chance they could get a pacey winger as a trade off I wouldn’t blink an eye at it. It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if he were to go.
It’s a shame because we do have some pace in the squad, there is just a lack of ability with these players. They need to go or be swapped for me.
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Comment #26Jd Dubai
The problem is that Cabella is no Pires. He’s not even good enough to lace his boots buddy, back when Pires played the prem was so much more different, so much more combative and physically it was harder which is why it took time for a class player like Pires to adjust.
Some players just aren’t cut out for the prem, Ozil is one currently who is poor for Arsenal, Cabella is for us….We judge Cabella based on hope, a fat and overweight Greggs pasty loving Arfa was and is 10 times the player Cabella is. Cabella has been given chance after chance amd failed to deliver for an entire season
Tsunki
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Comment #27Firebug, if he comes here wanting to be at a cl club , he might just play to the shoppers.
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Comment #28Firebug
Yes we do want that type of player because that type of player takes us to the next step up.
corkypants
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:57 PM
Comment #29I have a sneeky feeling mitrovic is getting the 9:30am flight tomorrow morning to newcastle, flight takes a hour and a half im guessing he will be here by dinnertime
firebug666
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:59 PM
Comment #30Our Toon
Only a step up if he plays with passion and determination, I just worry that he does not want to come here, we are definitely not his first choice.
As for Cabella, I think he needs a second chance, the whole team was woeful last season, you cannot just single out one player from that shoddy lot.
He may just need a bit of confidence and a game plan to bring the best out of him.
chasing_rabbits
Jul 12, 2015 at 6:59 PM
Comment #31Being reported Mitrovic has arrived in Newcastle, waiting for the photo evidence though
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:00 PM
Comment #32Tsunki just summed up Cabella for me, pulled a few tricks and had good positional sense. There’s more shocking moments that stand out for me on Cabella then good moments, take his miss against villa, the sitter which would have won us the game away. Or the open goal v Southampton when he missed the ball
firebug666
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:01 PM
Comment #33corkypants
He is in Istanbul, that’s a good 4 hours plus flight, and I’m not sure if there is a direct flight to Newcastle.
scout
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:02 PM
Comment #34Sterling 49 million. Its insane.
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:03 PM
Comment #35Firebug
If you offered all the players in our squad a chance.to play at a better club than ours they’d all take it. Let’s face it we aren’t a Porto or even Roma buddy, we are a team that plays in the prem and only just survived relegation. If he comes here the only way to move into something better is by playing well, if he doesn’t he ends up in Russia or Ukraine.
corkypants
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:04 PM
Comment #36I thought he was in brussels firebug my bad
Our Toon
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Comment #37Scout
That’s the price of going British unfortunately, thanks to the likes of Greg Dyke it’ll only get worse. 49m for 1 good season
croftus5678
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Comment #38on the cabella debate !
imo he can have those silly things in his game ironed out fairly easy and tbf he did create a lot of chances when played although they was not finished either by himself or others !
however he is not a winger nor has the crossing ability to be one imo and i can only see him getting a game as an impact sub ! much like arfa was he’s more of an exciting player thats not that effective as a constant starter but can shine for 20-30mins of a game when legs are starting to go.
JDdubai
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:07 PM
Comment #39Not every player will quickly adapt to a new club or country, if you track someone for a few years and pay X millions for him then it doesn’t make sense to get rid of him after just 1 season- a season where the whole team around him was crap and he was being “coached” by pardew and carver.
There are many more wide players who should be out the door before him, Gouffran, Obertan, Ameobi for starters.
overtheline
Jul 12, 2015 at 7:08 PM
Comment #40BlandB
The problem is that Charnley has not lost the bolts attaching the horse to cart – its the nuts he’s short of.