Fulham captain Tom Cairney has urged the club to turn Aleksandar Mitrovic’s loan move from Newcastle United into a permanent deal as soon as possible.

The Serbian striker, who scored twelve goals after moving to Craven Cottage in January as the Whites won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, has already admitted he would be open to staying with Fulham should his parent club agree to a deal. Newcastle are likely to try and hold out until after the World Cup, where Mitrovic will represent his country, in hope of receiving as big a transfer fee as possible. Reports from the north east suggest that Newcastle are looking for a deal worth between £15m and £20m.

Cairney believes securing the 23 year-old forward on a permanent basis would be a massive statement of intent from Fulham and feels that the striker’s strong relationship with head coach Slavisa Jokanovic will work in the club’s favour. Fulham’s Wembley matchwinner told the Evening Standard:

We have got to try and sign him. He is a Premier League centre- forward. He is going to play for Serbia in the World Cup and if he scores goals there then more people are going to be in for him. I think he loves it here and he loves the manager.

We are an attractive club to come to. We have been in the Premier League for a long time apart from the last few years, we are in London and the style of play is attractive. We look to play football and score goals.

The Fulham skipper also cited Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth as the example to follow as Jokanovic’s men look to adapt their possession-based style to the challenge of the top flight over the coming months.

We played amazing football in the Championship but everyone knows the gap between the two divisions and the top teams. We are not going to go to Arsenal and dominate the ball like we did at Wembley. We are not naive. We have got to look at the likes of Bournemouth and what they have done. They dominated possession in the Championship when they went up and scored a lot of goals like us. They look to do that against teams at home in the Premier League but when they go away to the likes of Chelsea they have to drop off and keep their shape.