, The man, the myth, the Mitrovic – Is Fulham’s Championship cheat code ready to break the Premier League?

The man, the myth, the Mitrovic – Is Fulham’s Championship cheat code ready to break the Premier League?

Aleksandar Mitrovic – a player far too good for the Championship and so far, not quite good enough for the Premier League. But is that a mantra we’ll soon be forgetting?

There’s something quite wholesome about seeing Mitrovic happy and scoring goals. Thinking back to his early days in England with Newcastle United, plagued by red cards and a clear inability to hold back his anger, to see him now happy in a Fulham shirt and much, much more professional has been like seeing someone progress from boyhood into adulthood.

And it’s with Fulham where he’s done the majority of that growing up. He initially joined on loan midway trough the 2017/18 season and would prove an instant hit with the fans, scoring 12 goals in 17 Championship outings to help his side claim promotion into the Premier League via the play-offs.

By this point, the Premier League had already chewed up and spat out Mitrovic. But after half-a-season with Fulham in the Championship he was brought back on a permanent deal, and thrusted right back into the limelight of the English top flight.

When we think about Mitrovic in the Premier League, we think about a player who can’t quite cut it at that level. But in his first season with Newcastle United he scored nine Premier League goals and in his first with Fulham he scored 11. For some reason, Mitrovic has carried with him a heavy air of expectation when it comes to scoring in the Premier League and that’s seemingly, subconsciously, tainted his ability to transfer his Championship prowess up into the next level.

The last Premier League season was undoubtedly his worst – three goals in 27 appearances for Fulham who suffered yet another relegation from the top flight. Fans love their Serbian striker and it’s undeniably frustrating for them to see Mitrovic perform so well in the Championship but then go into his shell in the Premier League. He has all the hallmark attributes of someone who should be able to boss the English top flight and its physical nature, yet he can’t seem to make that transition from Championship to Premier League.

But is that until now?

Fulham are once again competing at the top end of the Championship, this time under Marco Silva. What’s noticeable is that Silva’s Fulham are a much more consistent attacking threat than what Parker’s were. Fulham under Parker almost plodded along in their way to promotion to the Premier League, knicking games by the odd goal and so on. Silva’s Fulham meanwhile are steamrolling their way to the Premier League, albeit with the odd defeat to the likes of Blackpool and Reading.

Silva has brought with him to Craven Cottage a new air of confidence among the Fulham ranks and it’s having a positive affect on the likes of Mitrovic – he was the league’s joint-top scorer with 26 goals last time he played in this division and already this season, he’s scored 15 in the Championship. He’s on course to smash former West Brom striker Lee Hughes’ record of 31 goals in a Championship (of First Division) campaign and finally, though Fulham fans won’t hold their breath on this one, Mitrovic looks as though he’s well-prepared and in the right mindset to eventually bring to the Premier League what he brings to the Championship.

, The man, the myth, the Mitrovic – Is Fulham’s Championship cheat code ready to break the Premier League?

Mitrovic is far too good for the Championship. He’s a cheat code at this level. At 27-years-old he’s coming into the peak of his career and he’ll want to spend that playing at the highest level possible. One more season of prolific Championship football for Mitrovic, in which he could easily reach an astonishing 40, even 50 goals, will surely be his final hurrah at this level before he’s deemed simply too good for the Championship, and should those goals lift Fulham into the Premier League then the next season will surely be Mitrovic’s final chance at cracking the Premier League. Before of course he’s deemed not good enough for the Premier League.

Another misfire season in the top flight will all but confirm that Mitrovic isn’t a Premier League player. But playing in a new-look Fulham side almost built to feed his abilities, dropping the shackles that Parker’s tactics held him in, there’s no physical reason to suggest why Mitrovic can’t break the Premier League next season. Maybe it’s all in his head, and if that’s the case then it’ll boil down to whether Silva is the right manager to ease Mitrovic into a scoring vein of form in the Premier League. For now though, let’s sit back and enjoy Mitrovic in the Championship for a while longer.

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