Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte has reportedly turned his attention to Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic after his bid to acquire Everton's Romelu Lukaku appeared to be slowly falling through this summer.
Reports are also out that the 47-year-old Italian mentor is deeply concerned about his squad's lack of defensive options this season and has urged the Blues' top officials to help him sign a new defender before the summer transfer window closes on Sep. 1.
The Mirror reported that Conte is "set to raid Juventus for hitman Mario Mandzukic" after his efforts to land the Toffees' Lukaku has proven to be all for naught as the Belgian striker expressed his desire to remain at the Goodison Park for the long term.
Chelsea executives are said to be "confident" that the new boss "would clinch Lukaku's return to boost" his attacking options in the recently-opened season. But with the negotiations falling apart mainly because of the Belgian's insistence to stay with Everton, the Blues "are now in a desperate race to try and bring in an established striker whose goals can help propel Chelsea into the Premier League title race following last season's nightmare showing".
At the moment, Conte's main striking options are only Diego Costa, Loic Remy, and newcomer Michy Batshuayi, which is deemed not enough if the manager wants to implement a two-forward frontline.
According to the report, Mandzukic is worth around £25 million, one-third of the £75 million transfer fee Everton is demanding from the Pensioners.
Conte had offered £65 million plus striker Remy and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, but the Goodison Park residents still turned down the bid.
Meanwhile, SkySports indicated that Conte is desperate to sign a new defender before the summer window ends as he only has five options at the moment, namely team captain John Terry, vice-captain Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, and academy player Ola Aina.
"If you look now at our squad, we have only five defenders - four that started today and an academy player Ola Aina," said Conte.
Conte then said that while "Ola is very good" and "has great potential", the young defender still has a lot of work to make before being considered in the first team.
"If one defender is injured or banned, then we are in trouble, but the club and me we know this and we are talking every day to improve the squad," he added.
