Juve set £10m price tag for Mandzukic

Manchester United will have to fork out a reported £10 million to sign veteran Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic in January.

Reports at the end of last week claimed that the Croatia international has reached a verbal agreement with the Old Trafford club over a mid-season move.

The 33-year-old has fallen out of favour with the Italian champions under Maurizio Sarri, and has been looking for a way out since being excluded from their Champions League squad.

According to the Express, Mandzukic has informally agreed to join the Red Devils but he will come at a cost.

Juve want £10m for the striker, who turns 34 next May and has two years remaining on his contract in Turin.

Mandzukic has already turned down proposals from Qatar and MLS, as he is convinced he can still make the difference at the top of European club football.

He scored 10 goals in all competitions for Juve last season under Massimiliano Allegri but hasn’t featured at all this term under Sarri.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs to bolster his front line in the winter window after seeing his side struggle to find the net so far this season.

Romelu Lukaku departed for Inter Milan over the summer but wasn’t replaced, and the Red Devils have subsequently failed to score more than one goal in a game since their opening day 4-0 hammering of Chelsea.

Solskjaer stood by the club’s summer business last month, saying: “There were strikers but they weren’t the ones we wanted. If we had the right one, we would have.

“It was time for Romelu to go. He knows that. He didn’t want to be here. What is the point in having players that don’t want to be here?

“And it’s no point getting players in that you’re not 100% sure about.

“When you get players in you need the right ones that are going to stay here for a longer period and that’s the long-term thinking we have to show. ‘I cannot think: ‘I need a player because this is my reputation.” No, it’s the club.”

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