Who are ya? Mario Mandzukic (Chelsea target)

Published on January 18, 2012 by Michael Houghton · 9 Comments

This 25-year-old Croatian international striker has been rumoured to leave Wolfsburg and the Bundesliga with Chelsea’s Andre Villas-Boas being one of the main contenders (along with Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger) to gain his services.

Mandzukic, who transferred away from Dinamo Zagreb in July 2010 for around £8m, has currently scored 8 goals in 17 games for Wolfsburg this season and is proving to be a reliable asset for them. But, despite this fact, they are seriously lacking in the defensive side of their game which means any goals Wolfsburg put away are diminished by their inability to stop the opposition scoring which currently puts them in a measly 12th place for what should be a high-ranking team.

With this in mind, Mario should be aiming for higher places and Villas-Boas should be able to offer him a place in Chelsea’s list of strikers and a consistency in the starting 11 because they have a large list but many of them are unavailable. They have Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres who are currently out-of-form, Anelka has recently been transferred away to the Chinese League’s Shanghai Shenhua and Romelu Lukaku who has been linked with a loan move either this season or next season.

This leaves a large hole to fill for Chelsea if they want a chance of winning the Premier League this season they will need to add a striker and Mandzukic is a potential candidate. With comparable abilities to that of Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko, who was also at Wolfsburg, standing at 6ft 1in, he has a killer instinct in front of goal with his feet and his head which would make him a tremendous aerial threat if he joined Chelsea with them being very good at set pieces. He has the general work rate to that of most strikers and has very good control and dribbling skills.

With nothing quite official coming up as of yet, it is still early days whether Mario Mandzukic will be approached by Chelsea but it is definite that he will be approached by one of the big-named teams simply down to his ability to be so lethal at scoring (having 71 goals to his name in his entire career so far). Look out for him sometime his January transfer window or in the summer. He’s out there.

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Tags: Chelsea, Mario Mandzukic, Wolfsburg

Readers Comments (9)

Sheare says:

January 18, 2012 at 8:03 pm

My opinion is, make do with Torres,kalou,Daniel and allow lukaku learn from them while Drogba be axed,leave mario alone.

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Chex says:

January 18, 2012 at 8:59 pm

Drogs is very useful player right now,axing him will never get better.sell kalou and replace with a good wingforward like Loic Remy.

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Fanwo Kingsley says:

January 18, 2012 at 11:11 pm

Cheap? Yes. On the same level as Hulk and Cavani? No. My people say “if you must eat a frog, eat the one with fat”. This guy cannot match Chelsea’s level.

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emeka says:

January 18, 2012 at 11:37 pm

I share the same view with Sheare above,Drogba should go to china or afganistan if he likes,he has tried,enough of all this strange names pls.

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Ify CR7 says:

January 19, 2012 at 7:46 am

Get hazard for €35m is worth it,sell drogba and replace him with mandukic,that ‘ll be ok for chelsea now,then let alex leave

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Ejike okorie says:

January 19, 2012 at 9:49 am

Having a shouty name or not is not what counts in a player but workability of the player and delivering.we need an aggresive striker for the champions league.we re favourite to win the champions league this year.

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Tom Hargreaves says:

January 19, 2012 at 10:18 am

WELL DONE MIKEY <3

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knobby stiles says:

February 23, 2012 at 8:58 pm

Lukaku can’t play for 3 clubs in one season.

Chelsea need to sign Eriksen from Ajax, Lavezzi from Napoli and Hazard from Lille.

Maybe think about offering Man City a Torres for Tevez swap too…

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pashalis says:

April 18, 2012 at 5:38 pm

If i were you,i would have bought Mario for Chelsea.He can fit the attacking side with the help of Drogba and Torres

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