Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has revealed he has no regrets after selling Aleksandar Mitrovic on a permanent basis in the summer.
Football.London report that Benitez is happy with his decision despite the striker being joint-top scorer in the Premier League at this early stage of the season.
Mitrovic impressed whilst on loan at the Cottage last season, scoring 16 goals between the start of February and the end of the season and winning two player of the month awards in the process.
His performances were enough to convince manager Slavisa Jokanovic to sanction a £22m permanent move for the forward, and that fee could rise to £27m.
Mitrovic has scored in away trips to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and Hove Albion and scored a brace in the club’s emphatic 4-2 victory over Burnley this campaign.
That puts him top of the scoring charts alongside Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, and the Serb will be keen to add to his numbers at Manchester City tomorrow.
On Mitrovic, Benitez said:
The first thing that 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 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.
Newcastle could do with the 23-year-old’s goals, having only scored three times in four Premier League matches to date.
