Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved has not ruled out letting Mario Mandzukic leave the club this summer amid rumours linking the striker with Manchester United.
Gianluca Di Marzio recently claimed United were interested in the Croatia international as an option up front, which makes sense given the team’s style of play under Jose Mourinho.
Mandzukic has shown himself to be a battler up front, and has plenty of experience of winning big trophies with the likes of Bayern Munich and current club Juventus.
It seems as well that Nedved won’t stand in the 32-year-old’s way if he wants to leave, though it remains unclear how much he is also interested in linking up with Mourinho at Old Trafford.
Nedved’s quotes suggest there may be reason for Juve to think Mandzukic does want out, as when the Czech was asked about the player’s future he had this to say to Sky Sport Italia, as translated by Calciomercato: ‘Mandzukic? As a club, we want players to be happy.
‘Players who are unhappy can leave, we’ve always said that. We will decide together, whoever stays at the club must be happy to be part of Juve.’
United lack backup to Romelu Lukaku up top after Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s exit and Mandzukic could be an ideal short-term option for that role to provide Mourinho with more options to rotate his attack.
Mandzukic also seems ideal for the style of play in the Premier League and could give United that edge in the title race due to the amount of successful title wins he’s been involved in himself throughout his career.
Mandzukic won two Bundesliga titles and the Champions League during his time at Bayern, and has three Serie A titles to his name at Juventus, whilst also scoring in the club’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid last season.