Mitrovic vows to 'never play for Fulham again' after two Saudi bids rejected
Aleksandar Mitrovic is furious with Fulham and reportedly threatened to go on strike in an effort to force through a transfer to Saudi Arabia.
Mitrovic has been offered the chance to triple his current £120,000-a-week wages by joining Al-Hilal. The 28-year-old striker is desperate to follow in the footsteps of Wolves star Ruben Neves, who joined the cash-rich Saudi club in an eye-catching £47million transfer last month.
However, Fulham are reluctant to lose their talisman, who top-scored with 15 goals in all competitions last season. They have already rejected two official bids from Al-Hilal, the second of which was understood to be worth £34m, because they value him at £52m.
Fulham’s hard-nosed stance has infuriated Mitrovic, who has told his relatives he will never play for the club again, according to Sky Sports. Remarkably, he had to be convinced by his agent Pini Zahavi and PFA representatives not to walk out on Marco Silva’s side entirely.
He was successfully talked down and will join the squad as they depart for the United States on Thursday, but his future remains shrouded in uncertainty. Zahavi has urged Fulham’s head of football operations Tony Khan to lower his value to somewhere between £35m and £45m in order to end the stand-off.
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Along with three other Saudi clubs, Al-Hilal were taken over by the country’s Public Investment Fund earlier in the summer. The huge cash injection has allowed them to sign some prominent players.
As well as Neves, Al-Hilal have signed Mitrovic’s Serbia team-mate Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly for combined fees of almost £100m.
Al-Hilal have already spent £47m on Ruben Neves (Will Palmer/Getty Images)They have targeted Mitrovic, who is under contract with Fulham until June 2026, after failing to tempt Romelu Lukaku to leave Chelsea for their project. Mitrovic has scored 111 in 205 games for the Cottagers since joining from Newcastle in 2018 for £25m.
This is not the first time Al-Hilal have ruffled feathers at Craven Cottage. Last month they were reportedly keen to hire Fulham manager Silva and offered him a contract worth a staggering £17m to try and make it happen.
The 45-year-old rejected the eye-popping offer and Al-Hilal instead hired his experienced compatriot Jorge Jesus instead. Having turned down the money himself, Silva has now been forced to deal with another problem sparked by Saudi Arabian money.
Mitrovic is not the only key player being lured away from west London – Joao Palhinha is also attracting lots of interest. The Portugal international has been identified as a possible replacement for Declan Rice at West Ham, who have seen a £45m bid rejected for his services.
Fulham are busy across the transfer market themselves, having submitted a £15m offer to Ajax for defender Calvin Bassey, according to The Athletic. They are also interested in signing Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi and Leicester full-back Timothy Castagne.
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