Mandzukic: I didn’t want to face Juventus any more!

“But, as I said, I’m just at the early stage of my career”.

Mandzukic and Gotze were team-mates for one season in 2013-14, and the former told reporters during his Juve presentation on Thursday: “He [Gotze] could play in any team”.

Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze has admitted that he could be tempted by a move away from the Allianz Arena at a later point of time, amidst strong rumors of a move to Juventus.

“But Juventus are the best team in Serie A. They are used to winning and lifting trophies”.

“As for my number, I’ve chosen 17, because of my beginnings in Croatia in the second division, and when I started with the professionals I kept 17”.

“My reason for joining Juve was simple”.

“It’s always hard to play against Juve”.

“In particular against the defence, those were some of the most hard matches of my career. They’re a great team and it was an easy decision to make”.

Speaking to Goal, he said: “I think that Juventus reached the Champions League final not by chance but because they had a great season past year”.

However, Mandzukic believes the duo will be adequately replaced by the Bianconeri, who have already brought in Simone Zaza, Paulo Dybala and Sami Khedira.

“But as some leave, others arrive”. Juve think always of the future. I hope that we can be a family.

The aforementioned source reports the deal for the 23-year-old actually originated after the recent face-to-face discussions between Bayern Munich and Juventus’ CEO’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Giuseppe Marotta in the wake of Arturo Vidal’s transfer.