WANTAWAY striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is finally set to join Al Hilal after the Saudi big spenders agreed a £46million deal with Fulham.
The Serbian has made no secret of his desire this summer to join the exodus of footballing stars to the oil rich Arab state, even though he did feature in last week’s 1-0 win at Everton.
But Mitrovic was not involved today as the Whites went down 3-0 at home to Brentford, with Marco Silva revealing afterwards last season’s top scorer has departed Craven Cottage.
The Fulham boss said: “About his future, he’s on his way to leave the club.
“I got information before the match and now the confirmation from the club after the match that he’s on his way to leave the club.
“Both clubs got an agreement and now is the moment to finish with Mitrovic in our club.”
Silva added: “As you know, he forced everything to leave the club. He wanted to leave the club.
“Until the moment we had a financial agreement, we kept him in our football club.
“They have reached an agreement and now is the moment for us to keep playing and working with our team.”
And Silva is calling for lessons to be learned by everyone at the club after Mitrovic’s long protracted exit cast a shadow over Fulham’s preparations for the new campaign,
The boss explained: “If you ask if that is normal, no.
“If you ask me that football players should behave in this way, no. That is an easy answer.
“Not just the situation of Mitrovic, our pre-season was not where it should be on many aspects.
“That will not be an excuse for anything.
“The Premier League has started. I’m not here to find excuses, just that I would like it to not happen again in the future.”
And despite the fact Mitrovic’s exit was no shock, Silva emphasised there was no hard feelings to the player who served him so well over the past two years.
The manager added: “He forced it, I think all of you know it. Many of you reported that.
“It’s clear what he did and he forced it.
“He knows about my opinion, I told him in private.
“Football players are human beings as well.
“All the situation with the market, sometimes their thinking is about all that stuff because it was not just Mitrovic in our football club.
“The spotlight was on him but it was not just Mitrovic.
“What I want to say to him I already did.
“We are going to speak tomorrow and in two days’ time because our relationship is there forever.”
Fulham fell behind to Brentford a minute before the break after Yoane Wissa capitalised on Issa Diop’s mistake to put the visitors ahead.
Wissa was the victim of an untimely 64th minute challenge from Tim Ream, the Fulham man picking up a second yellow card and the referee pointing to the spot.
Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty went in via the post and it was he who wrapped up all three points for the Bees in stoppage time with a simple close range finish.
