OPINION
West Ham must sign Newcastle United forward Aleksandar Mitrovic if Manuel Pellegrini wants to wrap up his summer transfer business in style.
The Hammers have been splashing the cash left, right and centre to bolster all areas of their squad except their centre-forward options.
Many fans would believe that Pellegrini is now just one quality striker signing away from completing his stunning summer overhaul, and Newcastle’s Mitrovic would fit the bill perfectly.
According to the Telegraph, Fulham are expecting to sign the 23-year-old powerhouse within the coming weeks after he dropped well down the pecking order at St James’ Park.
It is understood that the Magpies are set to pocket £20million in selling the Serbia international, who failed to make a single Premier League start last season before he was sent to Fulham on loan in the Championship.
At Craven Cottage, Mitrovic was in brilliant form as he scored 12 goals to help fire Fulham to promotion to the Premier League.
He was clearly playing below his level in the Championship and with a manager who can trust him and will play him every week, he will no doubt continue that deadly form in the top-flight.
CalcioMercato has previously reported that the £60,000-a-week (Spotrac) forward has already attracted interest from West Ham thanks to his form on loan at Fulham earlier this year, and Pellegrini should look to follow up that interest by hijacking their London rivals’ attempt to sign him.
With attacking midfielders and wingers like Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko signed up, Mitrovic is the kind of target man who can not only help bring those players into play, but also feed off their crosses and balls into the box to find the back of the net himself.
Signing the Serbian striker should be one of Pellegrini’s top priorities between now and the transfer window closing, and if he manages to pull it off there’s a good chance that West Ham could be in contention to quality for Europe.