Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates after scoring for Fulham. (Getty Images)
According to the Daily Express, Southampton are plotting an audacious £30 million raid on Fulham for Serbian international striker Aleksandar Mitrovic in the summer.
The Express understands that Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is planning a massive overhaul of his squad at the end of the season after steering the club to safety in the Premier League from a precarious situation.
Mitrovic has been one of the brightest sparks of Fulham’s otherwise disastrous Premier League campaign, which has ended in relegation to the Championship and the 24-year-old Serb is keen to complete a move away from Craven Cottage to play at the highest level, according to the Express.
Mitrovic has netted 11 goals in the league for a struggling Fulham side and he looks likely to stay in the Premier League, despite the Cottagers making an attempt to keep him at the club with a lucrative new deal.
Fulham have slapped a £30 million price tag on the Serb to fend off interest from the potential suitors but Southampton are prepared to make him their club-record signing, while West Ham and Crystal Palace are also believed to be monitoring the situation closely. (h/t Express)
If Southampton do end up signing Mitrovic for £30 million, it would eclipse the mega-money deals that they have struck for the likes of Jannik Vestergaard, Jordy Clasie, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Sofiane Boufal, Guido Carrillo, Sadio Mane and a few others in the recent past. And the fans at St. Mary’s have every reason to be excited about their club’s links with the towering Serbian centre-forward, who has managed to carve out a reputation for himself, despite Fulham’s struggles in the Premier League.
To put things into perspective, Aleksandar Mitrovic seemingly has all the attributes to be a marquee signing for Southampton this summer, with the Saints also set to sign Liverpool loanee Danny Ings permanently for £18 million. Mitrovic has shown enough promise at west London and the Saints can look at him as a wonderful long-term investment, given that he is still only 24 and has plenty of time to make significant improvements to his game.
Lack of firepower up front has been a major Achilles Heel for the Saints in the Premier League this season. Danny Ings, who was brought in last summer to lead the line, has struggled for fitness, while Charlie Austin has also spent more time on the sidelines than on the pitch. Shane Long, though impressive at the fag end of the season, has only scored 5 goals in the ongoing campaign and it doesn’t look like he has a future under Hasenhuttl.
With the likes of Long and Austin failing to deliver the goods, Southampton have lacked an effective focal point in their attack, which has often forced Hasenhuttl to use the likes of Josh Sims and Nathan Redmond in that centre-forward role. That, clearly, hasn’t worked in favour of the Saints, as both Redmond and Sims are at their best when deployed out wide.
Mitrovic’s presence would not only add that clinical edge to Southampton’s attack but also allow the likes of Redmond and Sims to play around him. Standing at 6ft. 2 with a towering and sinewy frame, Mitrovic is adept at using his physicality to hold the ball with his back to goal, which should allow the more pacey players to have a greater impact on the game. Moreover, Mitrovic is very good at using short exchanges to link up with his teammates, which, in turn, should enhance cohesion in the final third.
To go with his smart hold-up play and ability to link up with the others around him, the Serb is also a genuine threat from set-pieces and crosses delivered into the area, with his incredible aerial ability and clinical finishing making him a dangerous player inside the box.
Undoubtedly, Mitrovic would add another dimension to Southampton’s attack and the Saints would be a more potent attacking unit with the Serb in their ranks.
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Hence, it is not difficult to see why someone like Mitrovic can help Southampton improve massively in the final third. Having barely managed to beat the drop in the last couple of seasons, it is high time for the Saints to get back into the upper echelons of the Premier League and Aleksandar Mitrovic would be the ideal man to propel the club to greater heights in the foreseeable future.