Serbia striker could make an turn to Tyneside when he goes ith Toon’s current No.9 Rondon

ational Salomon Rondon s No.9. Mitrovic will be p against his former club, bought him from echt for £14m in 2015. nd Benitez never fell out he Magpies manager “Mitro is emotional but was never a personal issue. was a situation where he d to play, so had to go e I couldn’t guarantee uld play. have a vind you see ats. But I alyse the the way playing, so every g session . he a good Yes. Can he oals for Fulham? ut, for us, maybe we d something different. ybe because he wasn’t g his confidence was low, ow it is high. But we d more mobility. mally, if you are defending ay counter-attack, the striker has to have more mobility. If not, he’s just a target man. For our team that isn’t ideal. Can we play this way? Yes, but we would need to sign other players. It depends on the players around. “Sometimes you want to have different options. It’s true he was sent off or was banned for an elbow and things like that, but now he is doing well.

“He can work for Fulham. He’s doing well. He’s playing well, he’s scoring goals for them, he’s working really hard, so I think he will be happy at the moment. “Obviously when he comes here, he would like to score as many goals as he can, but I don’t think he has to prove anything because he is doing well. He’s a good player – we knew that before – and I wish him all the best after this game.” “I’m happy with our strikers – they are doing well – but especially, I’m happy with our position in the table at the moment.”

Newcastle will lose Ki Sung-Yeung (below, with Rondon) after today’s game. South Korea insist he goes to a pre-Asia Cup training camp as soon as possible, while other team-mates are reporting two weeks later.

Benitez pleaded for leeway, but he will miss the trip to Liverpool on Boxing Day and possibly all the games in January.

Benitez said: “Ki will go December 26 and we don’t know when he will come back. Muto will go January

3 after Manchester United. I was trying, but they couldn’t change.”

Jonjo Shelvey is unlikely to be fit for the trip to Anfield after a thigh injury. “He’s getting better but we have to be careful,” said Benitez.