Mario Mandzukic and Manchester United have reportedly reached a verbal agreement that will allow him to join the club in January if a fee can be agreed with Juventus.
Mandzukic, 33, has not played for Juve this season and will leave sooner rather than later. Juve reportedly wants $11 million for the Croatian.
[ MORE: Van der Sar has Man Utd interest ]
Football-Italia says Juve has dropped its asking price about $5 million since the summer, and that Mandzukic had been recruited by clubs in Major League Soccer but prefers United.
He scored 10 goals and seven assists in 33 matches last season, about what he’s done since his 20-goal campaign with Atletico Madrid in 2014/15 inspired Juve to swoop for his services.
It would be a desperate but thrifty move for United, who needs depth but would not be adding an improvement over Marcus Rashford. In fact, the players had similar seasons last year. Rashford is obviously much younger and more explosive, but Mandzukic pitches in more defensively and has plenty of wisdom.
Would there be a better addition on the market? Our guess is yes, especially considering Ibrahimovic may be available for free. Ibrahimovic scored 29 goals with 10 assists at United before departing for two prolific seasons with the LA Galaxy (52 goals, 14 assists) and is out-of-contract on New Year’s Day.
There’s a similar vibe to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival at United, thought Mandzukic has never quite reached the prolific scoring heights of the monstrous Swede.