Marco Silva did not give anything away about Aleksandar Mitrovic’s future at Fulham but revealed he will miss Saturday’s Premier League match against Brentford.
Mitrovic, who has been heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, sustained a knock during Fulham’s opening-day 1-0 victory over Everton.
The Serbian will be replaced by new signing Raul Jimenez at Craven Cottage.
Marco Silva’s side are up and running for the 2023/2024 campaign, having sealed their first win of the new season last weekend with a 1-0 triumph away to Everton at Goodison Park.
A late strike from Bobby Reid was enough to seal Fulham’s opening victory and they’re now gearing up for their first 23/24 home game against Brentford this afternoon.
The Whites are looking to build upon their solid first full campaign in the top flight last term, where they managed a top half finish whist comfortably avoiding relegation to The Championship.
To boost his side’s chances of improving, Silva has moved to upgrade areas of the Fulham squad with astute signings. Indeed, former Wolves stars Adama Traore and Raul JImenez have joined, with the west Londoners also sealing an £18.2 million deal for defender Calvin Bassey.
Fulham have been linked with further additions, namely the likes of Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi and Everton’s Demarai Gray, but Silva has been adamant his side need to do more before the September 1 deadline
Unfortunately, we need many still. We have some important players injured,” Silva said earlier this month.
“I hope they can come sooner. We have just two full backs, we need a midfielder too and we have just two wingers so we need another two wingers.
“We have completed our central defenders. I needed these players 15 days or 20 days ago, not now.”
New targets appear to be coming out of the woodwork on a consistent basis, with Sevilla defender and Argentine World Cup winner Montiel now on their agenda.
The 26-year-old, who scored Argentina’s winning penalty as his country beat France in the World Cup final shoot-out last year, is at the centre of an “official bid” from Fulham.
That is according to TEAMtalk, who say Silva’s side have made an offer to sign Montiel as Sevilla are believed to be open to selling their right-back.
Fulham are in the market for an alternative to Kenny Tete in that position and have turned their attention to the South American after being priced out of a move for Leicester City full-back Timothy Castagne.
Despite his heroics at international level, Montiel has struggled to cement his starting place at Sevilla recently, and it appears Fulham are looking to take full advantage.
Montiel made 28 La Liga appearances for Sevilla last term, bagging three assists as an attack-minded full-back (WhoScored), but it appears his time at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium may be coming to an end soon.
The highly versatile player can be deployed at full-back, in central defence or even further forward out wide – making him an enticing option for Silva.
Argentine football expert Roy Nemer, taking to X last year, revered Montiel as one of Argentine’s “absolutely incredible” standouts.
“I can’t pick only one, two or even three players that are doing great for Argentina because they’re all absolutely incredible,” said Nemer.
“Ángel Di María, Lisandro Martínez, Alejandro Papu Gómez, Marcos Acuña, Lautaro Martínez, Guido Rodríguez, Gonzalo Montiel, they’re all playing great.”
