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EXCLUSIVE: Leonardo Bonucci’s agent flies to England to meet Manchester City and Chelsea
Lucci is also the agent of Juventus star Leonardo Boncci who has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola is desperate to welcome the services of the 29-year-old who is considered perfect for the Spaniard’s idea of football. Guardiola is looking for a top class defender with strong technical skills.
Bonucci is probably one of the best centre-back in the world with the ball at his feel and Guardiola had already praised the former Bari man after Bayern Munich’s meeting with Juventus in the Champions League round of 16 last season.
CM.com pundit Nicola Balice reports that Bonucci’s agent is travelling to England where he will meet Manchester City and Chelsea.
The Etihad Stadium side have tabled an improved € 60 million offer for the Italy International after that Juventus had rejected the opening € 40 million bid. Manchester City will also offer Bonucci a salary of € 7.5 million a year, more than the double than what he’s actually getting at Juventus.
Despite the Premier League club’s crazy offer, Bonucci doesn’t want to leave Juventus, nor do the club want to sell him. If a mega offer could tempt the Old Lady to sell Pogba, the bianconeri consider Bonucci unsellable.
The player, however, will probably ask a pay rise even if he extended his contract at the J Stadium last year when Juventus doubled his salary raising it from € 1.7 million a year to € 3.5 per season.
After his trip to Manchester, Lucci will fly to London, where he will held talks with Chelsea who are also interested in signing Bonucci. The main reason of Lucci’s travel to the Stamford Bridge, however, is Juan Cuadrado who has informed Chelsea that he is not open to return to the club despite the arrival of Antonio Conte.
Juventus want the Colombian ace on loan with option to buy. Chelsea are only open to sell Cuadrado to permanent deal but could eventually agree to sell the former Fiorentina man on a loan deal with compulsory buy-out clause.
Trouble is, Benatia will join Juventus from Bayern Munich with the same formula and Juventus would have to pay a combined transfer fee of more than € 40 million to make both Benatia and Cuadrado’s moves permanent next summer.
The player’s return to Juventus is still a realistic option, but at the moment the path to sign Cuadrado is quite a complicated one.
Lorenzo Bettoni @lorebetto
