Fulham have been promoted back to the Premier League, and they owe quite a lot of their success this season to one man – Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Indeed, while the Whites are well on track to score over 100 league goals, a large portion of those have been netted by the Serbian.
Mitrovic broke Ivan Toney’s Championship goal record months ago, but on Tuesday evening, as Fulham sealed promotion, he became the first player this millennium to score 40 goals in an English league campaign.
However, things could have been rather different for Fulham and Mitrovic.
Indeed, before Marco Silva’s arrival at Craven Cottage, Mitrovic was something of a forgotten man at Fulham after falling out of favour under Scott Parker.
After Fulham’s relegation in 2021, there were quickly reports stating that Mitrovic wanted to leave the Whites, and as you can imagine, Premier League clubs were quickly attracted to the hulking centre-forward.
West Ham United were credited with a strong interest, but unfortunately for the Hammers, Mitrovic and Fulham reconciled after Parker’s departure, the Serbian signed a new contract and now he’s fired them to promotion.
In this sort of form, we can’t help but wonder how Mitrovic would have fared at West Ham this season. The goals have dried up for Michail Antonio, and the Hammers’ incredibly physical style of play would have suited Mitrovic to a tee.
Would the Hammers be closer to the top four if they’d signed Mitrovic? Who knows? But after hitting his 40th goal of the season, you have to imagine that he would have been a real asset for David Moyes’ side.
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