The Serbian striker has loved the Magpies since he was a boy.
Newcastle United striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has told the Telegraph of how he grew up a passionate Magpies fan in his native Serbia, and has proudly stated that he would be happy to spend the rest of his career at the club.
Mitrovic joined the Tyneside club last summer in a £13 million move from Anderlecht and scored nine goals in 34 Premier League games in his first season in England.
Though he does not always start, he has became a popular figure at St. James’ Park because of his battling nature and passion for the club both on and off the field.
It may seem unusual for a man born and raised in the Balkans and who had only ever played football in Serbia and Belgium until 15 months ago to have such a strong love for Newcastle.
However, the 22-year-old explained to the Telegraph that his love affair with the club began as a small boy after seeing Sir Bobby Robson’s side play his local team Partin Belgrade in the Champions League in 2003.
Mitrovic said: “I’ve been happy from the start at Newcastle. It has been my favourite club ever since I was small boy in Serbia. I have followed Newcastle my whole life. I had two Newcastle shirts when I was little. It was unusual, most people choose a team like Manchester United or Barcelona, but for me, it has always been Newcastle.
“They played against Partizan Belgrade [in the Champions League] when I was small. I don’t know, there was something here I really liked. It was the passion, the relationship between the fans and the players. You could feel it on the TV, you could see it was something different. Even when big clubs came here, they were afraid of this crowd.
“I fell in love with them then. I loved the passion. Of course, I’m happy to be here. It feels like I have come home. This is my home. Newcastle are my club, my team. They are like Partizan to me.”
In fact, such is his adoration of Newcastle United that he even went as far as to say, at the still-tender age of 22, that he would be happy to spend the entirety of the remainder of his career on Tyneside.
He added: “It is really amazing to be here in England and have so much love. It makes me feel so grateful, it is amazing. I hope I will be here for the next 10 or 15 years. I will spend my entire career here, no problem. As long as they want me, I will be here.
“I’m happy, my family is happy, my son, Luka, is happy growing up here. He will grow up a Geordie.”
Mitrovic has found game time hard to come by so far this term due to the form of Dwight Gayle, and he admitted that he has been pleading with his teammate to leave room for him to play a part.
However, he is likely to start this weekend with Gayle likely to miss out against Preston through injury.
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