Tottenham are on the hunt for a striker this summer and have been linked with Loren Moron, Callum Wilson, Troy Deeney, Vedat Muriqi, Patrik Shick, Arkadiusz Milik, Robin Quaison, Rhian Brewster and Habib Diallo, but could Mario Mandzukic be an ideal backup to Harry Kane?
Could he make an impact in the Premier League at 34?
Mandzukic isn’t getting any younger, but he’s aged like a fine wine. The 34-year-old scored 44 goals and made 17 assists in 162 appearances in all competitions for Juventus (2015-2020), only leaving the Old Lady for Al Duhail Sports Club eight months ago.
Mandzukic’s stint in Qatar was cut short in July and saw him make seven appearances, scoring one goal, but he’s not declined in 2020 and was keen to come to the Premier League after leaving Juventus.
In his final season at Juve (2018/19), the Croatian international made 25 Serie A appearances, scoring nine goals with six assists, created 30 chances, won 73/129 aerial duels, had a 60% dribble success ratio, took 31 shots with 55% hitting the target, won 34 free-kicks, made 13 interceptions and made 34 tackles – more aerial duels won (2.9 per game) than Kane (2.6 per game).
After terminating his contract with AL Duhail, Mandzukic is now free to talk to clubs this summer and is working hard to get fit. He’s a hard-working centre-forward who can hold up the ball, win duels, bring others into the attack while having the athleticism to play off the last man.
The 34-year-old has similar attributes to Kane and would work well with Heung-min Son in the Englishman’s absence.
How much would he cost?
He won’t come cheap. The Scottish Sun say Mandzukic requested £300k-per-week/£15.6m-a-year when Man Utd were interested but halved his demands to £150k-per-week/£7.8m-a-year. At Tottenham, his wages would be in line with Heung-min Son (£140k-per-week/£7.28m-a-year). As per Spotrac, he’d be our third-highest earner behind Kane (£200k-per-week/£10.4m-a-year) and Tanguy Ndombele (£200k-per-week/£10.4m-a-year).
We wouldn’t need to pay a transfer fee for the striker, but he’ll set us back just shy of £8m if signed for a year. Unless we have a better attacking option lined up this summer, we could do a lot worse than getting Mandzukic for a season
At this price I’m not interested in this player. His wages and THFC financial squeeze would preclude bringing in desperately needed help at other spots, especially in the defensive end. Let’s rebuild with youth. B ing them up in our tradition. Of course, to continue our tradition we need to do away with the awful José Mourinho. Fora José.