Newcastle United could reportedly let Aleksandar Mitrovic leave for Besiktas to get Cenk Tosun in exchange.
Newcastle United fans know all too well that Aleksandar Mitrovic is a million miles from being the finished article. The Serbian striker is hardly a prolific goalscorer and his tendency to squander simple chances pales in comparison to his fondness of a stupid straight red.
Yet, we are seeing perhaps the first real signs of a division between Newcastle supporters and Rafa Benitez with the manager’s popularity being strained by his ongoing omission of arguably the club’s best striker.
A 3-0 home defeat to Watford was arguably the worst Newcastle have played all season. And Benitez found himself on the wrong end of some rather impassioned criticism for once again leaving Mitrovic on the bench in favour of the ineffective, wooden limbed Joselu.
And it did not help Benitez’s cause that Mitrovic contributed more in the final 20 minutes when finally coming off the bench than Joselu did in 70.
So with The Chronicle claiming that Benitez could sell the out-of-favour Mitrovic in January, and Futbol Arena even stating that he could be used as bait to lure Besiktas’ Cenk Tosun to Tyneside, the manager could find himself coming under even more scrutiny from supporters.
Newcastle have now won one in eight and scored five goals in that time. But Benitez still won’t give Mitrovic a chance from the start.
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