Newcastle United are anxiously waiting to hear from Aleksandar Mitrovic on whether he will agree to join the Tyneside club - with both Porto and Chelsea reportedly set to make rival bids for the Anderlecht striker. The Magpies have had a £12.3 million bid for Mitrovic accepted by the Belgian club and are hoping the striker will opt to move to the North East, although the 20-year-old appears to be holding out for a Champions League side. And reports in Portugal claim Porto are now willing to match Newcastle's offer - while The Daily Star report that Chelsea are willing to enter the bidding, as well as give Mitrovic the £60,000 a week in wages he desires. Newcastle have reportedly offered Aleksandar Mitrovic £27,000 a week after tax as they press the Anderlecht forward for a decision on whether or not he will move to Tyneside, but the potential move is completely up in the air and they have allowed their 48-hour deadline for the transfer to be finalised to overrun significantly. Although Mitrovic is their primary striking target, Newcastle also have other irons in the fire - with the club still very much interested in Queens Park Rangers Charlie Austin and Wolfsburgs Bas Dost - who they want to move on to swiftly, which is why they have demanded an answer from the Serbia international. Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City are just two of the other clubs to have also been linked to Mitrovic, along with Roma. Mitrovic has netted 44 goals in 90 matches for Anderlecht, and has a career total of 69 strikes from 158 games. A powerful and relatively-quick forward, Mitrovic has an eye for goal and he grabbed headlines when he scored Anderlechts equaliser at the Emirates Stadium last November when the Belgian side came from three goals down to draw 3-3 against Arsenal in a Champions League group-stage match. Anderlecht paid Partizan Belgrade a club-record £4 million for the 11-cap Serbia international, who started his career at Teleoptik, back in August 2013 and he has gone on to become one of Europes most sought-after forwards. In 2014-15 Mitrovic bagged 28 goals in 51 matches, including 20 in 37 Belgian Pro League appearances and three in the Champions League. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow whatculture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
