Leonardo Bonucci, whose trail ran cold on the Manchester City radar has reportedly rejected a salary bump of €8m a year from €3.5m a year from the English giants to stay in Turin. It was earlier rumoured that Manchester City were willing to offer as much as €60m to sign him.
In a world that continually strives for glory, glitter and gold, loyalty is an ever disappearing virtue which sounds fantastic on words but is abysmal in real life. Juventus fans will remember this transfer season as the story of two transfer narratives, the one that was and the one that wasn’t. As the whole world waits Paul Pogba to take the next important step towards his old club, Juventus fans will be glad their faith reaffirmed the way it did by Leonardo Bonucci.
What the papers say
Gazzetta dello Sport‘s Fabiana Della Valle reports that both the player and his club rejected the approaches of Manchester based club. Many would agree that €60m is a huge offer for a 29 year old defender but clearly in Italy age is measured with different numbers, as Marotta and Agnelli spent €94m for a 28 year old Higuain.
Bonucci had confirmed the interests of both Manchester clubs, but his club rejected the both the bids to send a clear message to Pep Guardiola who remained confident over the success of the improved offer. City understood that Juventus had no obligation to sell their assets and more importantly, the fact that it is no longer possible to prize every star away from Italy.
The player’s will
The article started out by drawing a comparison between Bonucci and Pogba. For years, Italian journalists have pointed out to the fact that how a player’s will is instrumental regarding these transactions. Bonucci and Pogba seems to be a demonstration of that very hypothesis.
Juventus were willing to resist the gigantic offer of €120m, but it was reported that Pogba was more inclined to make the switch back to Manchester. Juventus fans do not hold a grudge over Pogba since the salary Jose Mourinho’s team offered was unparalleled. Bonucci, on the other hand, rejected all the lures that Pogba had succumbed to, and as a result enlists his name alongside the likes of Buffon, Nedved, Trezeguet and Del Piero. The quartet had, once upon a time chosen to play in the second-tier (Buffon and Del Piero with a World Cup medal fresh on their necks) of Italian football for the club they so loved.
