For Atlético Madrid, whose priority right now is to sell Mario Mandzukic, an ally has been found in Juventus. Yesterday (Tuesday), this newspaper reported that the Italian club had already established contact with the striker’s agent. The Serie A side, according to Tuttosport, have now made even more progress and they have reached an agreement with Mandzukic over his conditions at the club. As Italian sources explained to this newspaper yesterday, Mandzukic was not Juventus’ first-choice attacking target: Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuaín were the chosen ones, but the Old Lady encountered insurmountable obstacles in that regard.
PSG, with Ibrahimovic in the departure suite, do not appear to be compromising in terms of the exit of Cavani. And negotiations with Napoli for Higuaín are prohibitive for Juve. In this manner, Juve coach Max Allegri and the club’s managing director Beppe Marotta both confirmed the negotiation for the Croatian striker.
“I like Mandzukic, he is a great striker for a team that continually attacks,” Allegri told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
To top it off, Marotta was even clearer when he spoke at the Milan Expo.
“If Tévez goes, we have located the player that we want in his place and he is called Mandzukic. We have positive reports about the Croatian,” said Marotta.
In addition, the Juventus chief lifted the lid on the Carlos Tévez saga, stating that “if he does not stay at Juventus, it will be to go to play for Boca”.
Juve, according to Tuttosport, have sounded out Atlético over the conditions of the transfer and, of course, the Spanish capital club are willing to negotiate. At the Calderón they want to recoup, as far as possible, the fee paid that they paid last summer. They forked out €22m to bring the Croatia international to Spain from Bayern Munich.