Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic is Manchester City football team manager Manuel Pellegrini's latest target as the Chilean wants to sign the Atletico Madrid star in a 25 million pounds deal.
Pellegrini would make his move for Mandzukic in the hope of luring the striker to the Etihad Stadium next month, as the Chilean is desperate to bring in attacking re-enforcements and has made the Croat his top target.
Pellegrini was keen on Papis Cisse and believed that he could land the Newcastle hitman on the cheap, but he has been put off by the club's staggering 35 million pounds asking price and has turned to Mandzukic as the Croat represents a better deal, the Daily Star reported.
The Premier League defending champions need a proven goalscorer to help keep their title challenge alive following injuries to Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.
Star striker Aguero is out until the end of January with damaged knee ligaments while Dzeko and Jovetic are also expected to be sidelined for several more weeks.
Pellegrini has been left with no fit strikers and was forced to play England midfielder James Milner up front in Saturday's home win over Crystal Palace.
The Chilean knows he cannot keep pace with Chelsea at the top of the table without a top-class forward.
A club source revealed that the problem in attack needs solving as soon as possible and Mandzukic is the leading target, adding that it might be difficult to sign the Croat but claimed that if anyone could do it then City can, with the funds they have at their disposal.
However, it still remains to be seen if Atletico bosses would be willing to sell Mandzukic so soon after signing him from Bayern Munich. The striker scored 33 goals in 54 league appearances for the German giants before joining Atletico last summer for a reported 18 million pounds.
Mandzukic has scored 14 goals in 22 games for the Spanish champions to help fire them into the Champions League knockout stages, the report added.
