What Leonardo Bonucci’s transfer to AC Milan means for Manchester City
By Duncan Kwok
The transfer of Leonardo Bonucci to AC Milan for €42 million could have more meaning and repercussions for Manchester City than the fact that they have lost the battle to sign one of their most wanted transfer targets and one of Europe’s top-class centre-backs.
1. It’s time to let youth shine
With a renowned academy that has been busy snapping local and international talent perhaps it’s time to allow some of these talented youngsters to make the jump to the first-team. While Manchester City have pushed back some of the dominance Manchester United that United have in Manchester, however United still reign supreme when it comes to integrating youngsters from their academy into the first-team, the Class of 1992 comes to mind when talking about the great talent that the Manchester United academy has produced, more recently the likes of Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have made the jump into the first-team. While the most recent Manchester CIty graduate, the talented striker Kelechi Iheanacho is on his way to Leicester City despite possessing a very reasonable strike-rate, despite the fact that he is being sold for a very good price of £25 million, wouldn’t the better option be to let him play third fiddle behind Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, after all, Sergio Aguero isn’t getting any younger and is attracting interest from Real Madrid, PSG and Chelsea. Now, with Leonardo Bonucci going to AC Milan, now is the time for Manchester City to allow Tosin Adarabioyo to make the jump into the first team or else the youngster might be another story of how Manchester City doesn’t promote from within.
2.Money can’t buy Everything
Manchester City is backed by the wealthy City Football Group and by all accounts should have been able to stump up the €42 million AC Milan paid for Leonardo Bonucci. However, this will show to Manchester City that money can’t buy every single player, yes Kyle Walker did join Manchester City for a massive amount of money and had his wages tripled. In the case of Bonucci, one would have to say that he at the age he probably doesn’t want to leave his native Italy, after all, he has spent his entire career in Italy. Another example would be Dani Alves doing a swift U-turn to sign for PSG instead of Manchester City, he stated the reason for that was because he wanted to win trophies and not the move was not about the money. Many will question what Dani Alves stated after all Manchester City are a club that is on the way to winning trophies. The main point here is that Manchester City will from time to time have to shift their transfer strategy to account for players that won’t sign for the money.
3. There are more big-spenders than there ever were.
The likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and PSG have had their fortunes turned around due to money but the signing of Bonucci by AC Milan shows that there are more big spenders than ever, Chinese businessmen are investing massive sums into football clubs like AC Milan and Inter. This will mean that Manchester City may lose more bidding wars than before and they may lose more transfer targets.
Related Story: Is Dani Alves Signing For PSG a Blessing in Disguise for Manchester City?