Running on borrowed time?
That was very much the tone that Fulham journalist Peter Rutzler was giving out when it came to a question about Fulham’s use of Aleksandar Mitrovic recently. Scott Parker has come out and said the reasoning behind his recent spell away was because he felt that the players currently in his spot were just performing too well to drop.
And it has raised the scenario of whether or not Fulham should be looking to sell the Serbian forward in the winter window to perhaps fund players who can play the system better. And speaking on a Q&A for The Athletic, Rutzler said that it isn’t something to talk about now, but it could become an issue further down the line:
“Realistically I don’t think it’s possible to keep Mitrovic as a ‘Plan B’. He’ll want to be a Plan A and his goalscoring record in general makes him a super asset for any side. My feeling is that he’ll be back involved soon. I think there’s a case to say he didn’t suit the style Parker wanted from the team in recent games, but also he’s had a difficult time leading up to his absence from starting XI, so taking him out the team may actually have been beneficial from a confidence/pressure perspective. But if he’s not back in the team soon, then yeah, there would be a question to ask I think.”
Will we sell Mitrovic in January?
Yes
No
That difficult time that he was referencing to there is something that I was very vocal about concerning his form going into the last international break. First off I didn’t know there was another person out there that thought selling Mitrovic was an idea/possibility, but at least I’m not alone.
I have been saying (although with a hint of sarcasm/humour) that I think Mitrovic is on the way out and in all honesty, if we need to sacrifice him in order to bring somebody in to help this team out, I wouldn’t be against it. Similar to how we had to sell Ross McCormack back in 2016 for our team to really kick off under Slavisa Jokanovic.
Mitrovic has done all he can for the club so far, getting us promoted twice, top scorer in back to back seasons, he’s cemented his place in Fulham folklore for generations. But if the chance comes to secure our future by selling him on, it’ll be a tough decision, but I wouldn’t be against it.
What about you? Do you think Mitrovic has a future at the club?