19 Things We Learned From Steve McClaren's BBC Radio Newcastle Interview

7. Mitrovic's Reputation Is A Myth... He's Actually A Lovely Fella!

United's new striker has been compared to Mario Balotelli in terms of playing style, shirt number, outrageous haircuts and erratic behaviour off the field. However, McClaren has met a completely different bloke to the one that has been portrayed in the media...

"He's the nicest lad ever. It's amazing when you get a reputation like that as many players have before. He's come in and been absolutely fantastic. "He's an 'ic', we call it an 'ic' because he has I-C at the end of his name. He's from Serbia and we've dealt with many of these Eastern Europeans before and they can be volatile, but that's the emotion they've got. They're very passionate about their countries and also their football and he shows that on and off the pitch."

Sounds like Mitrovic is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character, with split personalities on and off the pitch. It will be up to McClaren to tame the beast, so to speak, and get the best out of a player who has potential bursting out of his seams.