JUVENTUS CENTRE-BACK Leonardo Bonucci has admitted that he could have moved to Manchester United this summer, but instead chose to move “home” to the Turin side.
Bonucci had spent seven years previously at Juve, but moved to AC Milan in the summer of 2017
The 31-year-old was, however, discontent at San Siro and switched back to the Allianz Stadium after only a year.
He admits that he had the option of experiencing the Premier League, where Jose Mourinho’s United wanted him as a solution to their long-standing problems at centre-back, but the Italy international says that was not for him.
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It is not the first time he has had the chance to move to England, either.
“Basically there have been some possibilities both with Manchester City and with Manchester United,” he told the Daily Telegraph .
“With Manchester City when I received that offer [in 2016] I actually talked to the club, I talked to Juventus and we decided that it was good for me to stay and to keep on winning with Juventus.
And this year when I was told there was a possibility to go back home, to come back to Juventus I just stopped listening to any other offers and I decided to come back here.”
Asked to clarify if there had been interest from the Red Devils this summer, he replied: “Yes.”
Pressed further, he was asked if there was any chance of him completing the move after Juve made their interest clear, he said: “No. I feel at home. Here I really do my best, I just push myself to the maximum and that’s something at Milan I really didn’t manage.
“I didn’t succeed to achieve and that was probably because in my heart I had already made the decision that I wanted to go back home.
“The decision was not made until June but it’s true that I had this feeling inside me. So when my agent told me there was a tangible opportunity to go back I just stopped listening to anyone telling me what to do,
“I stopped listening to any kind of suggestion and I just said: ‘Okay, let’s go home.’”
Bonucci is likely to line up for Juve against United at Old Trafford on Tuesday in the Champions League, having missed only 90 minutes of football this season.
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Bonucci turned down Man United move to return 'home' to Juventus
JUVENTUS CENTRE-BACK Leonardo Bonucci has admitted that he could have moved to Manchester United this summer, but instead chose to move “home” to the Turin side.
Bonucci had spent seven years previously at Juve, but moved to AC Milan in the summer of 2017
The 31-year-old was, however, discontent at San Siro and switched back to the Allianz Stadium after only a year.
He admits that he had the option of experiencing the Premier League, where Jose Mourinho’s United wanted him as a solution to their long-standing problems at centre-back, but the Italy international says that was not for him.
It is not the first time he has had the chance to move to England, either.
“Basically there have been some possibilities both with Manchester City and with Manchester United,” he told the Daily Telegraph .
“With Manchester City when I received that offer [in 2016] I actually talked to the club, I talked to Juventus and we decided that it was good for me to stay and to keep on winning with Juventus.
Asked to clarify if there had been interest from the Red Devils this summer, he replied: “Yes.”
Pressed further, he was asked if there was any chance of him completing the move after Juve made their interest clear, he said: “No. I feel at home. Here I really do my best, I just push myself to the maximum and that’s something at Milan I really didn’t manage.
“I didn’t succeed to achieve and that was probably because in my heart I had already made the decision that I wanted to go back home.
“The decision was not made until June but it’s true that I had this feeling inside me. So when my agent told me there was a tangible opportunity to go back I just stopped listening to anyone telling me what to do,
“I stopped listening to any kind of suggestion and I just said: ‘Okay, let’s go home.’”
Bonucci is likely to line up for Juve against United at Old Trafford on Tuesday in the Champions League, having missed only 90 minutes of football this season.
Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here:
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UEFA Champions League Premier League rejection Juventus Manchester United