Aleksandar Mitrovic’s gruesome knee injury will be of some worry to Rafael Benitez. The Newcastle United player received a bad cut on Saturday, and whilst he only thinks he’ll be out around a month, further tests will be needed to determine if there’s been any serious damage.
Mitrovic has played second fiddle to Dwight Gayle under Benitez, but is still a very important part of the Newcastle set-up, and the manager may be looking to add further depth to the position.
On Saturday we covered claims from Italy that Torino striker Josef Martinez is currently deciding whether to join Newcastle United or Hamburg. There wasn’t a great deal of information added, only that Torino are keen to sell to free up a space within their squad.
A little further digging shows that’s what seems to be motivating the story. Rather than Newcastle or anyone else really pushing to sign the player, it’s more Torino pushing to sell him.
On January 5th, Tuttosport published an article saying Torino want €3m for the player. Newcastle weren’t mentioned, but Hamburg, Pescara, Palermo and Bologna were. Yesterday it was also claimed Torino had received a €3.5m offer ‘from Mexico’ for Martinez, but that wasn’t deemed enough, which contradicts the other claim.
There’s every chance Newcastle have been dragged into the story to up the hype. Rafael Benitez is of course well known in Italy, and rather than genuine Newcastle interest, this could be more about Torino looking for clubs who will pay them a bigger fee.
Mitrovic’s injury is only going to encourage the claims, and Torino may be inspired to give Newcastle a call.
