ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC has the perfect attacking sidekick at Newcastle United to ease any frustrations he suffers on the international stage, according to head coach Steve McClaren.

Mitrovic is one of the Serbian players being heavily criticised in his homeland following a failure to qualify for next summer’s European Championships.

The 21-year-old remained on the bench during Friday night’s 4-1 friendly defeat to Czech Republic if Ostrava, highlighting how he has fallen out of favour under head coach Radovan Curcic.

Even defender Branislav Ivanovic’s attempts to defend him included negative remarks, when the Chelsea man claimed ‘he always looks a bit sluggish and overweight.’

But at Newcastle, where he moved in an expensive £14.5m transfer last summer, the striker has the full support of the man picking the team – and Perez has been singled out as a player capable of getting the best out of him.

“You can see a bit of telepathy between Mitro and Ayoze. You can see that getting stronger and it’s helping us as a team,” said McClaren. “Mitro's come in and he's been a bit of a target for us. He can get better though, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I think at the moment he just lacks maturity which I think will come with playing for us and in time.”

Mitrovic has scored just twice since his arrival from Anderlecht, but has provided Newcastle with a focal point in attack.

He has managed to curb his early over-exuberance in the tackle – which earned him two bookings and a red card in four short appearances – by only collecting one further caution since.

But his growing understanding with Perez, who has three goals in his last six games to attract interest from the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, has helped Newcastle enjoy an improvement in fortunes.

The Magpies have only lost one of their last four games and even that 3-0 reversal at Sunderland saw them dominate the game for long periods, even though they had Fabricio Coloccini wrongfully sent off.

McClaren, who has only won two of his first 12 league games in charge, thinks Newcastle’s improvements are largely down to more and more players in a new-look side and system becoming more familiar with one another’s play.

“I think they've made a good combination haven't they? I think you can see it with Mitrovic and Perez – you can see that team cohesion,” said McClaren.

“That's what we've been doing; looking to give everybody opportunities and chopping and changing with the line-up. We're looking at who matches who, who can play with who, what combinations work.

“We've got that with Daryl Janmaat and Moussa Sissoko down the right. We kind of had that with Vurnon Anita and Jack Colback a little bit in the middle, now Cheik Tiote has come in which he has had to do. He's growing and developing there.

“Then you've got Gini Wijnaldum with Ayoze – they like each other as well. It’s all helping us to develop as a team.”

Despite encouraging signs in an attacking sense in the last few matches, McClaren is still weighing up ways of bolstering his forward line. West Brom’s Saido Berahino, 22, is among the players interesting the Newcastle boss along with Charlie Austin at QPR.