Aston Villa have made an attempt for free agent Mario Mandzukic.

Former Juventus striker Mandzukic - scorer of 197 career goals - has been a free agent ever since leaving Qatari side Al-Duhail back in July.

Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano told his Here We Go podcast: "Mandzukic, in my opinion, is an amazing player.

"Look at players like Mandzukic, like [Alexandre] Pato, like [Mario] Balotelli, they are free agents, it was crazy some years ago to see these kinds of players as free agents. He was so close to joining Manchester United one year ago, Mario Mandzukic.

"He had a bid from [the] Premier League, it was like three or four weeks ago, it was from Aston Villa. They were trying to sign him as a free agent and Mario Mandzukic said no.

"He also turned down an opportunity to join Bologna here in Italy, so it's up to him. He wants an important project. He will have a lot of bids, but at the moment, with Aston Villa, he said no."