Serbia vs Switzerland: Why Aleksandar Mitrovic will be in demand among Premier League clubs this summer – scouting report

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s saved header in the fourth minute was a sign of things to come. The only surprising thing was how soon after that warning he scored.

Branislav Ivanovic’s curled cross was aimed to the edge of the six-yard box where Mitrovic had got the better of Fabian Schar, but not Yann Sommer who saved well.

One minute later, another cross from the right was aimed into the middle, this time from Dusan Tadic. Again, Mitrovic get ahead of Schar but this time was able to glance a header beyond the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net.

You would think that Switzerland will have known what is about to hit them given his goal was his 18th in 26 games for club and country in 2018, but just how much can you do about his physical presence?

Very little.

His size and strength means he leaves defenders little chance of beating him to the ball once he gets in the air, something that has made many clubs stand up and take note.

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Mitrovic showed promise at Newcastle but lost his focus and motivation. Fulham gave him a lifeline in January and his goals fired them into the Premier League. The Serbian striker has since been coy on his future, Newcastle are reportedly willing to let him go for £20m, with Fulham and Crystal Palace interested in securing his services.

His performance against Switzerland was the perfect show-reel for any potential employer to see what he can do. He gave both Schar and Manuel Akanji a difficult evening and freed up space for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to manoeuvre in. The ability to occupy more than one player, and often entire back lines, makes his a stand out performer, as Rio Ferdinand identified.

“He can occupy two centre halves with his presence and he can hold up the ball for others to come from behind him,” said the former England and Manchester United defender on who made it very clear that he would not like to defend against him.

His hold up play was not the limit of his ability. Mitrovic was also putting in an almighty shift in the channels and ran hard on both flanks to offer an attacking outlet when Switzerland pushed Serbia deep into their half.

He even put on a couple of fancy flicks for the cameras and saw an audacious bicycle kick fly over the crossbar. Mitrovic is riding high on confidence and is an in-form striker many teams would be foolish to overlook.

The second half appeared to be passing Mitrovic by and he struggled with limited service as Switzerland equalised after taking a command in the match. He was denied a clear penalty when Stephan Lichtsteiner and Schnar decided that the only way to stop him was to haul him to the ground as he challenged for a ball in the air. Even though the service dwindled, the threat was still there.

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The one burdening question about his ability is at what level he can perform at. In the Championship he made light work of the defences he came against, but in his only full Premier League season with Newcastle he only netted nine times.

He fired a blank against Costa Rica but showed against Switzerland he can produce goals on the greatest stage of all.

Serbia’s game plan was very simple but effective: quickly get the ball wide then cross into the middle. The simplicity of their game plan meant it was straight-forward to execute, nothing fancy but playing to the strength of one of their most in-form players.