Manchester City: Transfer News and Rumour Roundup 10

The Curiouser and Curiouser

Leonardo Bonucci, 29, Juventus, Defender

Thank Heaven we have the persistent and often wild and fanciful Gazetta Dello Sport rumours connecting Manchester City to Juve’s Bonucci, because this off-season would be mind-numbling boring without.

You have to remember, nobody gave this one a chance. Juventus have no financial restrictions and Bonucci is as big a fan-favorite as the club has, a stalwart at the back and the heart and soul of the squad. He’s their Vincent Kompany, only fit and playing the best football he’s ever played. It seemed insane to consider The Old Lady parting ways with such an institution in the club and it still in many ways does. Yet here we are.

Jose Mourinho’s desperation to coax former-academy lad Paul Pogba back to United, even offering a world record shattering fee to do so, seems to be weighing heavily on the perennial Serie A champions. This much is for certain: they won’t part ways with both Bonucci and Pogba in one window, but in all honesty they’d rather not lose either.

Which takes priority? I think Juventus as a club would feel obliged to use their head rather than their heart. Pogba is only 23, yet even to reach his zenith, and could be the driving force behind the team for years to come. Bonucci, at 29, probably won’t have as much value as he does right now ever again and is, at least on the park, likely far more replaceable.

All that assumes the player himself wants to go and, if Gazetta is to be believed, he’d be open to it. Previous reports indicated Bonucci was “bewitched” by Pep Guardiola and the opportunity to play under a manager who is the living embodiment of attacking football, something which Bonucci is uniquely involved with from centre back. Now there’s even more evidence to suggest that if Juventus are willing to sell that he himself would go with it, such as an impromptu party in which he brought in his long time Juventus squad mates to his holiday home. This could well mean nothing, but Gazetta are interpreting it as being a signal of intent.

Further details, as broken by the Machester Evening News, take things even a step further. City themselves likely never considered Bonucci, for reasons we stated above, but they were approached by Juventus via a third party dangling the player in front of them. The idea seems ludicrous, but it could well help Juve stave off United’s interest in Pogba and give them money towards a big signing this summer, such as the rumoured link with Napoli’s striker Gonzalo Higuain.

How much money? Well there’s the rub, probably north of £50million and that’s a lot of money for a defender. Particularly since we are already potentially going to spend that much on another defender, John Stones. Nonetheless, I can tell you with absolute certainty that if City can somehow land Bonucci, no matter the cost, he would be the most significant signing for a Premier League club this summer, such is his influence and ability.

Gazetta have reported that Pep is so desperate to have Bonucci on board that City were phoning Juventus all day yesterday, offering increasingly generous transfer sums to acquire him. Football Italia and the Mirror even make the claim that one of these bids was accepted (!) by Juventus, but I’d obviously take that with a grain of salt. Heck, take the whole thing with a grain of salt, all of it.

I can’t shake the feeling this one seems too good to be true, and it seems the usually reliable Di Marzio feels the same, as he claims Juventus won’t be selling Bonucci to City or anyone this summer. Still, Di Marzio represents a lone voice against several others, so there’s still a chance. Keep an eye on this one.

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