Fulham in crisis after Chelsea rejection sees big bid tabled for star man who wants out
Al Hilal have turned their attention to Aleksandar Mitrovic after seeing a Chelsea raid knocked back, and the Serbian is determined to leave despite Fulham rejecting a sizeable bid, per reports.
Moves to the Saudi Pro League have littered the transfer window thus far and will continue to make headlines as the summer rolls on.
Al Hilal – who have already signed Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – are now turning their attention up front.
Per Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea outcast Romelu Lukaku was in their sights. However, the Belgium international greatly prefers remaining in Europe and if he does leave Stamford Bridge, a return to Italy with either Inter Milan or Juventus is expected.
With that avenue closed, Al Hilal have fixed their sights on Fulham frontman Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Serbian, 28, bulldozed his way to 14 goals in 24 matches for Fulham in the Premier League alone last season.
Mitrovic tailed off as the season wore on, though along with Joao Palhinha, is among Marco Silva’s most important players.
But per Romano, Al Hilal have submitted an official bid worth around £25.5m. According to Sky Sports, the Cottagers have rejected the offer.
However, the story isn’t likely to end there. Indeed, Romano hinted at “more talks” being on the horizon. Furthermore, Sky Sports state Mitrovic actually wants to leave Fulham.
They claimed ‘sources close to the player have told [Sky Sports] Mitrovic wants to leave the Premier League side and join the Saudi Pro League.’
That will be a bitter pill to swallow for Fulham and Silva. Signing a player who’ll have the same level of impact as Mitrovic did last year will likely cost far in excess of the initial offer made by Al Hilal.
If Mitrovic attempts to engineer an exit and Al Hilal raise their bid, Fulham’s second response may well be different to the first.
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