Croatian forward, 28-year old Mario Mandzukic, left Bayern Munich on Wednesday and will join Spanish champions Atletico Madrid. The move is all but confirmed by Bayern's sporting director Matthias Sammer.

"Still nothing has been signed, but there is a verbal agreement between both Bayern and Atletico Madrid as well as between Mario and Atletico," said Sammer on Wednesday.

Previous reports and rumors in several German and Spanish newspapers indicated that Mandzukic will leave Bayern for a transfer fee of 22 million Euros and that he will sign a 5-year contract with Atletico, his sixth club in a professional career and third outside Croatia.

Mandzukic's first international destination was Wolfsburg, where he spent two seasons (2010-12) and scored 20 goals in 56 games. In the summer of 2012 he moved to Bayern Munich after a string of excellent performances for Croatia at 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine where he scored three goals in three games and was a joint-top scorer of the tournament.

Mandzukic spent next two seasons in Bayern and heavily contributed to the trophy-treble in 2013, when Bavarian side won UEFA Champions League, German Bundesliga and German Cup. Mandzukic scored 33 goals in 54 games for Bayern and the most important was when he was on target for a 1-0 lead in the UEFA Champions League Final against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium.

"Mandzukic had always behave correctly and exemplary. I can only say positive things about him. We thank him for its performance and wish him all the best for the future," Sammer said.

Mandzukic comes to Atletico's locker room as a substitute for Diego Costa who will continue his career in English Premiership side Chelsea. There will be a lot of room in Atletico Madrid attack for Croatian striker as David Villa also left Spanish champions and UEFA Champions League finalist.

With Mandzukic's transfer to Atletico, Croatian national team can now boast that it has players in each of the three Spanish giants: Luka Modric will try to defend UEFA Champions League crown with Real Madrid and Ivan Rakitic, who moved from Sevilla to FC Barcelona, will try to lift up The pride of Catalunya.

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