Silly season is rapidly approaching and that means – for Premier League duo Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur – Christmas will come with a stocking full of transfer rumours.
Many of them true, many of them unsubstantiated, and pretty much every single one of them likely to spark debate all across social media.
Fortunately, amid claims suggesting that a footballer based in Saudi Arabia could be on his way to either St James’ Park or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the January transfer window, Mario Mitaj’s father is drawing a line under these reports before they really have time to fester.
Now, bringing in a left-back may be something that comes under consideration at Newcastle and Tottenham. One suspects that The Magpies may consider offers for Matt Targett after he was ousted by the impressive Lewis Hall.
Spurs are keen to move on from Sergio Reguilon, meanwhile, with the seldom-seen Spaniard clearly not part of Ange Postecoglou’s plans.
But, unless Mitaj Sr is a little out of the loop, Al-Ittihad will not be the pond Newcastle and Tottenham cast their hooks into.
Mario Mitaj’s dad plays down Tottenham and Newcastle links
Lin Mitaj, Mario’s father, explains that there are no talks underway with either club at this stage.
As things stand, the 21-year-old full-back is fully focused on making his mark in the Middle East, having joined Al-Ittihad on loan with an option to buy from Russian outfit Lokomotiv Moscow over the summer.
“It’s too early to talk about my son leaving,” the father tells Sport24. “There’s nothing official from these clubs [Newcastle and Tottenham].
“The good thing is that the team Mario is currently playing for [Al-Ittihad] shows that they trust him and give him matches. That’s why we don’t think about anything else, since we have nothing official.”
A Greek-born Albania international who rose through the ranks at AEK Athens before heading to Moscow, Mitaj has an impressive three assists to his name this season from left-back.
He has also featured as a defensive midfielder and as a left-sided centre-half at times.
Tottenham did lose their own left-sided centre-back Micky van de Ven to a medium-term hamstring injury a few weeks back. The Dutchman could be out until mid-December.
But, in Van de Ven’s absence, Ben Davies stepped in marvellously as James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski destroyed Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Ange Postecoglou hails Ben Davies as he emulates Micky van de Ven
“Brilliant,” a delighted Ange Postecoglou said of Davies and Radu Dragusin, Spurs’ third and fourth-choice centre-halves keeping a heroic clean sheet away to the champions.
“Ben and Radu were outstanding and [goalkeeper Guglielmo] Vicario when we needed him. Those two, not just defensively, a part of it was playing out from the back and they had to get on it first. They showed courage and got the rewards.”
According to Transfer Feed, meanwhile, Al-Ittihad can sign Mitaj permanently for around £5 million.
He is teammates with N’Golo Kante, Fabinho, Moussa Diaby, Danilo Pereira and Real Madrid icon Karim Benzema, while plying his trade under former Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon and France coach Laurent Blanc.