Speaking to The Daily Mail, Fulham’s Director of Football, Tony Khan, has been speaking about the deal that saw Aleksandar Mitrovic join from Newcastle United in 2018.
The Serbian has become a legend at Fulham since joining from the Magpies, but according to Khan, it wasn’t easy to get to this point.
Indeed, the Fulham chief says that it was really tough to deal with Mike Ashley on this deal, but, luckily for Fulham, the west London club managed to get a deal over the line eventually.
Tough to get Mitrovic
Khan spoke about getting the Mitrovic deal over the line.
“When Mitro came over, that was one of the most important things I think we ever did,” Khan said.
“I think it was in January 2018, taking Mitro on loan from Newcastle, and then in the summer of 2018, people say I did a lot of crazy stuff in the summer of 2018, but I think one thing we definitely did right was purchase Mitro’s contract from Newcastle.
“Believe me, it wasn’t easy. Mike Ashley and I went head-to-head on that one, big time. That was a good thing we got it done.”
Credit to Ashley
For all of the criticisms Ashley faced during his time at Newcastle, it’s fair to say that he did a decent job when it came to selling players.
He managed to get big fees for the likes of Mitrovic, Andy Carroll Georginio Wijnaldum and Moussa Sissoko, but sadly, that cash was never properly reinvested and the Sports Direct owner ultimately became one of the most polarising figures in Premier League history.
Ultimately, Newcastle would receive £25m for Mitrovic – a good fee for a player that wasn’t wanted at the time, and Fulham signed a player who has proven to be one of their greatest strikers of all-time.
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