Should Tottenham Hotspur request that Mario Mandzukic be included in any deal which sees Christian Eriksen head to Juventus?
Lord knows that Mauricio Pochettino has fixed a lot of problems at Tottenham Hotspur in a relatively short space of time.
The North Londoners, who hired the Argentine in 2014, went from being top-four hopefuls every season, to reaching the final of the Champions League within five years.
Although the Tottenham boss is yet to win anything at Spurs, only a fool would say that he hasn’t achieved anything – but there’s one problem that he hasn’t fixed and that is find adequate cover for Harry Kane.
Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente have both flopped big time in this regard, netting a combined four goals in 67 Premier League games between them.
Llorente has already left the Lilywhites and Janssen is poised to follow, which means it’s back to the drawing board for Pochettino in his search – or quest – to find the right plan-b option for Kane.
And if Juventus genuinely want Christian Eriksen, Tottenham need to ask for Mario Mandzukic in a player-plus-cash deal.
The Croatia international, who turned 33 last month, is definitely past his best, but this is a striker who displays the sort of cunning in and around the box that would make him a big success in the Premier League.
He is being linked with a move to Lazio [Il Tempo] but Tottenham should demand that he be included in the Eriksen deal, if indeed the Serie A champions sign the want-away Denmark international.
Pochettino doesn’t need a world-class striker to rival Kane; he just needs somebody who’s much better than Janssen and Llorente, and the World Cup finalist, even at 33, fits the bill.
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