da dobrowin： The striker wasn't the biggest name to join the Middle Eastern footballing revolution, but his performances in the Gulf have been scintillating
da betsul： When the Saudi Pro League kickstarted their plans for footballing domination last summer, they initially seemed to be targeting a certain profile of player. Namely, those approaching the twilights of their careers who were conscious that paydays like this were in diminishing supply. The likes of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante and Jordan Henderson were just three examples.
However, as the transfer window progressed, the Pro League's other objectives became clearer. If they wished to properly disrupt the established footballing order, they needed to pluck players away from the biggest leagues in the land when they were still at their peaks.
Nothing typified this aim more than Al-Hilal's protracted pursuit of Aleksandar Mitrovic. During the 2022-23 Premier League campaign, the Serbian had scored 14 times in just 24 appearances, a tally that would have been even greater if he had not received a lengthy ban for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh during an FA Cup quarter-final. If he was to leave Craven Cottage, one would have expected a top-tier Premier League club to be his destination.
Instead, Mitrovic would wind up in Saudi Arabia, with this decision and his agitation for the transfer being roundly criticised in the British media. Indeed, upon its completion, Cottagers boss Marco Silva admitted: "It is not the ideal scenario, not because he received an offer. It is all the situation about himself. He is not working properly with his team-mates, and when I say it is not the ideal scenario, this is the situation."
Mitrovic, though, has never been one to shy away from confrontation, and he has fully owned his decision – as well as taking the Pro League by storm – in the months that have followed.
Getty ImagesRefusing to go quietly
Mitrovic's first swipe back at his detractors came in September. In an interview with the , the striker said: "When I received the offer from Al-Hilal, I talked about it with my family, giving up was impossible. I have no nostalgia for England, I played many years there."
Then came the spiciest line of all: "I’m happy to have finally arrived at a top club, Al-Hilal is a bit like Real Madrid in Europe." For fans of Newcastle and Fulham, this jibe would have stung, and Mitrovic has continued to strike a defiant tone whenever he's been quizzed by the Western media about his decision to move to Saudi Arabia.
More recently, he told : "After seven years in England, I think the first thing was the sun. I never had summer sun in my life. It's been different you know, different culture, different football, the mentality of people as well, but so far I'm really happy. My family is happy. The club is amazing so far it's a great experience and looking forward to more years."
"The people here are crazy about football, but you have a bit more privacy here," he added. "We live on a compound, we're a little bit more isolated and people from Europe and around the world live there. The life is really nice. You wake up, have breakfast, a little workout, then recovery in the pool in the sun."
AdvertisementElectric form
The financial aspect of the move cannot be ignored, of course. It's been reported that Mitrovic is earning in excess of £400,000 ($507,000) at Al-Hilal. But unlike some of his other former Premier League contemporaries, he certainly cannot be accused of simply kicking back and picking up his pay check.
After scoring on his debut against Al-Raed, Mitrovic wrote his name into Al-Hilal folklore a few weeks later. Rivals Al-Ittihad were his side's opponents and he struck three times – including one ridiculous volley – in a dramatic 4-3 victory that set the tone for an amazing season.
Scoring the winner in a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej in mid-October then instigated a startling 10-game scoring run for Mitrovic. This included a fine brace in a victory against Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr, which helped Al-Hilal pull well clear at the top of the table.
And Mitrovic and Co refused to relent as the campaign progressed. He eventually finished with an outstanding 28 goals in as many Saudi Pro League matches as Al-Hilal went the entire season undefeated.
His fine form extended to other competitions, too. Mitrovic was consistently decisive in his side's run to the King's Cup final, and had he not been absent for the AFC Champions League semi-finals against Al-Ain, you would have fancied them to be in with a shot of winning that trophy as well.
His end-of-season stats made for mightily impressive reading. When all was said and done, Mitrovic contributed 40 goals and eight assists in only 43 appearances in all competitions.
Getty ImagesOutshining bigger names
These contributions are made all the more impressive when you consider how badly some of the Saudi Pro League's other big-name arrivals struggled in their new surroundings. Before the season kicked off, it would have taken someone brave to predict Mitrovic outscoring the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner. But that's exactly what happened.
While Mitrovic was banging them in with metronomic regularity, Benzema's season was characterised by underperformance and punctuated by dressing-room controversy. Sadio Mane – one of Al-Nassr's marquee buys – fell way short of the Serbian's standards too, managing a fraction of his goal contributions, while Riyad Mahrez only scored twice in his final 11 Saudi Pro League games of the season. Roberto Firmino, meanwhile, fared so poorly that Al-Ahli were trying to dispose of him in January, while Neymar – his Al-Hilal team-mate – has barely played after suffering an ACL injury.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo, who has embraced life in Saudi Arabia like few other foreign imports, could be argued to have enjoyed a weaker season than Mitrovic. Yes, a late surge may have been enough to secure Ronaldo the Golden Boot, but the ex-Real Madrid man was left inconsolable on the field after Al-Hilal ended their chances of silverware on penalties in the King's Cup final.
Getty ImagesIncredible international record
All of this means that Mitrovic will be charging towards Euro 2024 with a head of steam. This was typified in Serbia's final warm-up game before the tournament against Sweden, when he netted his side's second goal in a 3-0 victory with his final touch of the game.
Scoring for his country has rarely been an issue for Mitrovic. Even when his club form has faltered, he's remained reliable. Overall, he boasts 58 goals from just 91 caps, giving him a better international strike rate than Lautaro Martinez, Robert Lewandowski and Alvaro Morata.
He has a point to prove at this tournament, too. This is Serbia's first Euros since gaining independence, but at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Mitrovic could not prevent his side crashing out at the group stages despite scoring three times across the two tournaments.