Italian Serie A champions Juventus is reportedly set to swap striker Mario Mandzukic plus cash for the chance to acquire the services of Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez.
Juventus is said to be keen on snagging the 27-year-old Chilean winger from Arsenal in the past couple of transfer windows but no deal has come to fruition.
However, the Daily Star indicated that the Italian club had been alerted by Arsene Wenger's interest in signing Mandzukic in the recently concluded summer transfer window and so the Old Lady is now willing to include the Croatia international to the bid for Sanchez, which will probably be re-submitted in January.
Metro reported that Sanchez is "yet to sign a contract extension at the Emirates Stadium despite lengthy talks over the summer, with speculation that he is keen to become the club's highest earner and also have a release clause included in his new deal". His contract will expire at the end of the 2017-2018 season and a new contract can be given to him any time.
With Arsenal expected to not fully approve all of the Chilean's demands, Sanchez' future with the Gunners has now become clouded with doubt and so Le Zebre is reportedly set to take advantage of it by offering a package that includes Mandzukic.
The 30-year-old Mandzukic is a proven goalscoring veteran that has won titles with Juve and Bundesliga's Bayern Munich throughout his career. He was also a treble winner with the Bavarians during the 2012-2013 season.
The report noted, though, that Arsenal fans may not find Mandzukic as valuable as their current striker mainstays, namely Olivier Giroud and Lucas Perez, and may deem Sanchez as "too valuable a player to lose" for the 6-foot-3 Yugoslavia native.
Sanchez, a former Barcelona star, is on his third season with the Gunners this term. He had appeared in a total of 97 games in all competitions for Wenger so far and had scored 44 times in the said time span.
Meanwhile, Mandzukic has been with Juve for only a year after he was acquired in June of last year from Spanish club Atletico Madrid for a fee of around €21 million including add-ons. Last season, the Croatian played 36 games in all competitions for the Turin giants, scoring 13 times.