Rafa Benitez has explained Aleksandar Mitrovic’s departure from St James Park. The Serbian forward joined Fulham in this summer for a reported fee of £22m and has made an excellent start to this new season.
Benitez’s tactics have attracted severe criticism as his approach to the game seems to have weakened Newcastle. Since their promotion to the Premier League barring a few games, the Magpies never looked convincing and Benitez does need to inject some more firepower to his team.
With Mike Ashley as their owner, the Toon there are bound to be budget restraints but Benitez knows his limitations very well and should have used Mitrovic more in a bid to solve his goalscoring problem.
The 23 year old has lit up the top flight with his goal scoring skills but Benitez has claimed the striker didn’t match his criteria. “The first thing I would say is that I wish him all the best.
“I didn’t have any problem with him.
“He was a professional. He’s a nice lad, and that’s it. He was very clear (and said), ‘The way that I play, maybe, is not the way we have to play’. In another environment, in another division, and now with confidence, fine, he’s doing well. He’s in another team, and it’s totally different.
“He had chances for us. He was playing more than (Jacob) Murphy, and Murphy was similar. You see the stats, but I will not waste too much time on that. I wish him well. If we are safe, they can be safe, no problem. For us, he was not the kind of player we were looking for. That’s it
