Mario Mandzukic completes €15m move from Atletico Madrid to Juventus

Posted Tuesday, June 23, 2015 by theguardian.com

The Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic has completed his move from Atletico Madrid to Juventus in a three-year deal with an option of a fourth season. Mandzukic joined Atletico last summer from Bayern Munich and scored 20 goals in 43 games for the Spanish side.

Juve will pay €15m for Mandzukic, who completed his medical in Turin on Monday, with another €3m in performance-related add-ons with the Croat seen as a replacement for Carlos Tevez, who is expected to leave this summer.

Tevez, Juve’s top scorer in the past two seasons, is under contract at Juve for another year but is eager to return to Argentina, with his former club Boca Juniors keen to acquire his services.

Under Massimiliano Allegri, Juve last season won the domestic double, claiming the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles for the first time since 1995, and also reached the Champions League final, where they lost 3-1 to Barcelona.

Atletico , meanwhile, look set to replace Mandzukic with Villarreal’s Argentine forward Luciano Vietto. “He [Vietto] has been sold to Atletico,” Fernando Roig, the president of Villarreal, was quoted as saying in sports daily As.

An Atletico spokesman said “nothing has been officially finalised” when asked about Roig’s announcement. Vietto, 21, is considered one of the most exciting young talents in La Liga and will link up again with compatriot and former coach Diego Simeone at Atletico.

Simeone gave Vietto his professional debut at the age of 17 when he brought him on for the last five minutes of Racing Club’s 1-1 league draw at home to Club Atletico Lanús in October 2011 when he was coach at the Argentine club.

Vietto capped a fine display at Atletico’s Calderon stadium in December with a superb 84th-minute strike that secured a 1-0 win for Villarreal.