Atletico Madrid have made the signing of Carlos Tevez from Juventus a priority and want him to form a dream partnership with Luciano Vietto.
Marca claims Tevez’s future in Turin will be settled after Saturday’s Champions League final against Barcelona but Atleti are getting ready to make their move.
Los Rojiblancos will meet the €20m clause in Vietto’s Villarreal contract in what should prove a straightforward transfer, but are expecting Tevez’s signing to be more difficult.
Tevez’s Juve contract expires in 2016 and that could tempt Juventus into selling up, rather than let the forward walk away.
But Tevez had appeared set on returning to his first club, Boca Juniors, having previously said the contract signed with Juventus upon leaving Manchester City would be his last in Europe.
Atletico rejected the chance to sign Tevez when he joined West Ham from Corinthians under the direction of third-party owners, the club also turning down Javier Mascherano in the process, Marca add.
Mauro Icardi and Gonzalo Higuain, also linked with Atleti, were only ever back-ups in case Vietto didn’t join, Marca note, while a move for Edinson Cavani was a non-starter due to the size of his Paris Saint-Germain pay packet.
Mario Mandzukic is expected to leave Vicente Calderon this summer but the identity of his replacement is set to be a long-running affair, the newspaper admits.