Everton are among the sides connected with a bid for a big-name Saudi Pro League striker - but is he even available?
Everton and their new owners have plenty of work to do this summer – and perhaps no moves they make in the transfer window will be more important than finding the right striker.
As it stands, Dominic Calvert-Lewin remains likely to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of June, and while he’s far from the only experienced player set to depart, his loss might leave the largest gap. Some flashes from Beto aside, Everton have been short of firepower up front for some time now.
Only the three relegated sides scored fewer goals in the 2024/25 season than Everton, and it’s an optimistic fan that believes that Beto alone holds the answer. A new striker is a clear necessity – and as it happens, a big name has recently been suggested by the rumour mill…
Would Aleksandar Mitrović be the answer to Everton’s attacking issues?
It’s been two years since former Fulham and Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrović became one of the first players to take advantage of the chance to earn a small fortune in the Saudi Pro League – but his lucrative time with Al-Hilal could be coming to a close.
TalkSport are among the outlets who allege that the Serbian striker, now 30 years old, could be pushed out to make way for starrier names in Riyadh. The Pro League, for all that it spends freely, still has stringent limitations on the number of foreign players each side can sign, and Mitrović could be a victim of the continued desire to sign bigger and flashier names.
Not that his time in Riyadh has been unsuccessful. He scored 28 league goals in his first season with Al-Hilal, winning the league title, and bagged 19 goals in 23 games this time around as his side finished as the league runners-up. Only five players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Ivan Toney, scored more, and nobody who started a game in the Pro League scored at a faster rate than Mitrović, who missed a couple of months with a hamstring injury over the winter.
In short, the £40m-rated Serb is still pretty good at scoring goals, just as he was in England when he twice fired Fulham to promotion before registering 14 Premier League strikes in the 2022/23 campaign. Everton could do with that.
They aren’t the only team alleged to be interested in Mitrović (TalkSport also namecheck West Ham and even Manchester United), but they are perhaps the team who could most benefit from his qualities – his physicality and strength up front which would likely benefit David Moyes’ direct attacking system, and the simple fact that he’s a capable and accurate finisher.
Calvert-Lewin’s decline through a seemingly endless series of injuries, combined with Beto’s relative inexperience, means that there is a clear opening for a veteran striker who knows how to score goals in a system like Moyes’. Given that he turns 31 in September, Mitrović is scarcely a long-term solution, but as a stopgap solution for a squad which has been neglected for some years, there is plenty of justification behind the idea. But will it actually happen?
Why Aleksandar Mitrović could easily stay in Saudi Arabia
As it stands, Al-Hilal have the maximum permitted number of overseas players, 10, on their books, including Mitrović as well as the likes of Sergej Milinković-Savić - if he actually exists - Yassine Bounou, Kalidou Koulibaly, Rúben Neves and João Cancelo.
In short, if they want to make more of the splashy signings that have defined the last two years of Saudi football, then Al-Hilal will have to jettison some of the players currently on the books – and having agreed terms with AC Milan’s Theo Hernández while reportedly bidding for Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, it’s clear that they are looking for upgrades.
That doesn’t mean that Mitrović would necessarily be forced out, however. In their hunt not only to retain their league title but also to become the first side to win the Asian Champions League five times, jettisoning their leading scorer would represent an interesting choice.
Most of the reporting suggesting that Mitrović could leave seems to be based around the assumption that as one of the older and less starry players on Al-Hilal’s roster, he would be an obvious candidate for the chop – but he has been comfortably their most reliable striker, and is hardly the only ageing player in the squad.
Koulibaly is 33, while Cancelo is 31 and perhaps less necessary now that Hernández is on the way. Young Brazilian forward Kaio, who managed just three goals in his first season in Saudi Arabia, could easily be loaned out. There are other players that Al-Hilal could sensibly move on from before they ditch Mitrović.
The success of another young Brazilian forward, Marcos Leonardo, might help to make the case for Mitrović to be forced out. The 22-year-old scored 17 times in the Pro League last season and seems to represent a ready-made long-term replacement, and his emergence could make the case to move his older counterpart on – but Mitrović’s impact means that it remains hard to imagine any sensible side cutting ties with one year left on his current contract.
As it stands, few reliable sources or those within Saudi Arabia itself have hinted at any likelihood that Mitrović leaves Saudi Arabia this summer. It isn’t necessarily far-fetched, but there is no footballing or financial incentive for Al-Hilal to move on ahead of time, and while there is plenty of reason to suggest that he would be a fine signing for a side like Everton or West Ham, there is no hint of negotiations taking place or of a player keen to leave, as some of his temporary compatriots have been.
Perhaps Al-Hilal are looking to make their team younger or simply make more signings that will be more effective in marketing terms. Perhaps Simone Inzaghi, set to take over the Saudi side after defeat in the Champions League final with Inter Milan, will view Mitrović through a different, less positive lens – but for now, links between Mitrović and the Premier League remain intangible and arguably even far-fetched. Mitrović has been one of Al-Hilal’s most important and consistent players, and they may not be ready to let go just yet.
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