Manchester United has disclosed plans to sign out of favour Juventus Forward Mario Mandzukic at the opening of the transfer windows in January 2020, goal.com reports.
Manchester United who are closing in on the January signing Mandzukic, are confident that a transfer fee of £9 million (€10m/$11m) will be accepted by Juventus, who are desperate to sell the Croatian veteran.
Mandzukic is expected to sign an 18-month contract until the summer of 2021 and would earn a salary of £4.4m (€5m/$5.5m) a year.
Having failed to score more than one goal in a game since they beat Chelsea 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, Manchester United is hoping to bring in Mandzukic to help remedy the team’s goal scoring challenges.
The Red Devils who are currently struggling to rise from the 12th spot in the Premier League and are in the market for a short-term option in attack to help propel them up the table.
However, Mandzukic has enjoyed four excellent years at Juventus since arriving from Atletico Madrid in 2015, winning four straight Italian league titles and scoring 44 goals in 162 appearances.
The 33-year-old who is now surplus to requirements in Turin, after new coach Maurizio Sarri deeming the giant striker unsuitable for his style of football, might be having another chance to shine under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The ex-Bayern Munich man has failed to play a single minute in the current campaign and was left out of Juve’s Champions League squad.
Juventus spent the second half of the summer trying to offload Mandzukic and offered him to United during the latter part of the window.
The 2018 World Cup runner-up, who scored the extra-time goal that knocked England out of the semi-finals in Russia last year, rejected the chance to join Qatari side Al Rayyan last month.
There is interest in his services from China and the United States, but United are confident of completing a deal when the transfer window reopens in January.
Mandzukic would be expected to lead the line for United and take the pressure off Marcus Rashford, who has struggled to find the net following injuries to Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba.
Under-fire United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer retains the support of the board at Old Trafford and only a disastrous run of form would shake them from the belief that the Norwegian is the right man to take the team forward.
