“We clearly got tricked” – Shareholder discusses €17m Newcastle deal, fee was far bigger

As far as transfers go, Aleksandar Mitrovic’s from Anderlecht to Newcastle United has caused a lot of drama.

At the heart of a police investigation into the Belgian club’s practices with agents, the deal, which was officially said to be around €17m, was actually a lot bigger behind the scenes.

A key player for Anderlecht at that time, the Serbian striker was seen as a great talent, which is why Newcastle decided to gamble on him.

His time on Tyneside ended up being a relative success, and helped the club, at least on paper, make a profit of around €6m when they sold him to Fulham three years later in 2018.

He’s been in London ever since, but that original €17m deal was nearly double that, according to one of Anderlecht’s minority shareholders, Etienne Davignon, who spoke to La Libre about it, admitting not everyone was aware of extra commissions that were distributed.

He said: “We clearly got tricked on certain transfers at Anderlecht. We [the shareholders] knew what the club was taking in, but not the rest. For example, the transfer of Mitrovic to Anderlecht in 2015, the club received €17m, which isn’t that bad, but now we know the  full story and realise the global transaction was really €30m, so €13m went in commissions for agents and others. It’s a bit much…”