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Mitrovic Links Expose Familiar Failings in Premier League’s Transfer Obsession

There is something oddly poetic about Aleksandar Mitrovic’s name resurfacing across Premier League rumour columns in late July. The 30-year-old Serbian, scorer of 28 goals and provider of 7 assists last season at Al Hilal, is once again being cast as the missing puzzle piece for three of England’s top-flight clubs. Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United have all been credited with interest, as reported by Caught Offside. And as always, the subtext is not about potential, but about problems.

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Newcastle’s nostalgia and Saudi convenience

At St James’ Park, the Mitrovic discourse is framed with a hint of nostalgia. Caught Offside notes that Newcastle “want to build an alternative structure around Alexander Isak,” and view Mitrovic’s “Premier League experience and physical strength” as compatible. Sentiment is never far from the surface either, with Mitrovic having “openly expressed his love for the club in the past.”

There’s a practicality here too. The Saudi Public Investment Fund owns both Newcastle and Al Hilal. The mechanics of a deal would likely be as seamless as Mitrovic’s physical hold-up play. But sentimentality and convenience are not strategies. They are distractions.

Spurs searching for presence

Over in North London, Tottenham are reportedly considering Mitrovic as an “alternative to Dominic Solanke.” With Richarlison fading and Son Heung-min’s form dipping, Spurs are said to want “another striker” to bolster their offensive line. The logic feels reductive. Is the plan simply to throw a muscular striker into the mix and hope the goals sort themselves out?

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Mitrovic “knows the Premier League well,” but so do dozens of others who have oscillated between mid-table and mediocrity. The €30 million asking price may be “affordable,” but can Tottenham afford another signing that feels like a compromise?

United’s search for something that works

Manchester United are, predictably, also interested. “Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have been underwhelming,” the article claims. Mitrovic, by contrast, offers “a handy option.” There is no doubt United need goals, but that need has been pressing since Zlatan Ibrahimović was scoring headers with a grimace.

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Yet the word “option” feels telling. Mitrovic is no longer the statement. He is the compromise that clubs make when their planning has failed them.

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From a Newcastle perspective, re-signing Mitrovic feels like a backwards step. It’s easy to romanticise his time at the club, but building a modern attack around Isak and then supplementing it with a 30-year-old battering ram seems like an identity crisis waiting to happen and then there’s the elephant in the room, can they keep Isak?

Spurs fans have seen this story before. Cheap, experienced, available. But do any of those words scream ambition? Mitrovic as an “alternative” to Solanke makes you question the depth of the scouting department.

And then there’s United. Forever lurching between youth projects and panic buys. If Mitrovic is the answer, what was the question? This club has spent hundreds of millions on potential and now appears to be flirting with past-it pragmatism.

Mitrovic is a good striker, no doubt. But if he ends up at any of these clubs, it won’t be because he was Plan A. It will be because, yet again, the plan ran out of steam.