According to reports in The Sun, Fulham have made a £26m bid for Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose as an alternative to Newcastle United centre-forward Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Southampton should be looking to hijack the deal.

What's the word, then?

Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic in action for Serbia

Well, The Sun report that Cottagers boss Slavisa Jokanovic was keen to snap Mitrovic up on a permanent deal following a successful loan spell in the second-half of last season in which he helped the club win promotion back to the Premier League, but they have so far failed thrash out a deal with the Magpies.

Now The Sun says that the Serbian manager will wait to see if his offer for Willian Jose is accepted before he decides what to do next, with the west London outfit surely unlikely to sign both players given their preference to only play with one striker.

The 26-year-old Brazilian has certainly proven himself with the La Liga outfit in recent seasons, scoring 34 goals and providing a further eight assists in 74 appearances in all competitions for Sociedad.

Why should Southampton hijack the move?

Well Saints, who should also go all out to sign a versatile former Liverpool man with 33 goals & assists in 2017/18,  have been crying out for an effective centre-forward ever since Graziano Pelle left St Mary's two years ago, with the likes of Charlie Austin and Manolo Gabbiadini struggling to fill the void.

However, the tall Willian Jose could certainly do it as he is known being strong in the air, is good at holding the ball up and is a good finisher when he needs to be.

While signing him would smash the south coast outfit’s transfer record, their 3-0 defeat to Derby County in a pre-season friendly on Saturday coupled with only scoring 37 goals in their 38 Premier League matches last term highlights that they may need to splash the cash on a goalscorer to avoid finding themselves in relegation trouble again in 2018/19.

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