Why are Juventus selling Bonucci?

Posted Sunday, July 16, 2017 by Marca.com

The sale of Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus to AC Milan for 40 million euros is one that has shaken the footballing landscape.

Those looking in from the outside are struggling to understand how one of the world's most reliable and important defenders, who has helped build an indestructible backline in Turin, has been allowed to leave.

Bonucci hasn't just departed either, he has also joined another Italian team and strengthened a rival in the process.

For the centre-back, he is swapping a Juventus dynasty, a team who have won six successive Serie A titles, and Champions League football, for a team who are in the Europa League for the coming campaign.

In Italy, there are also misgivings about the price that was paid. Despite now being 30, the Azzurri international is undoubtedly among the top five in the world in his position.

Chelsea paid 50m euros for David Luiz last season and Manchester City forked out a total of 128m euros for their defensive trident of John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala with none of those players coming close to Bonucci's quality.

Strained relations

The key to Bonucci's Juventus exit has been the strained relationship he has with coach Massimiliano Allegri. During a 4-1 win over Palermo last season, the pair were involved in a heated row towards the end of the game in which Allegri told the defender: 'Shut up you d******d. Go f**k yourself!'

As his teammates celebrated the win and saluted the home support, Bonucci quickly made his exit up the tunnel after issuing a brief reply to Allegri and as a result of the bust-up, he was left out of the squad for their Champions League clash against Porto.

After that, both men effectively agreed to a truce for the good of the team until the end of the season, with both looking for Bonucci to move on during the summer.

Why Milan?

However, it does still beg the question, why didn't he move to the Premier League? La Gazzetta dello Sport claim that both Chelsea and Manchester City offered between 10-15m euros more than Milan did.

For the Old Lady, it would have been better to sell one of their key players to a foreign club and not have to come into close contact with him on a regular basis.

For family reasons though, given the poor health of his son, Bonucci did not want to leave the country and has opted to remain in Serie A, with Milan the only team who registered a firm interest in signing him.

What next for Juve?

Nobody at Juve doubts the almost irreplaceable presence Bonucci had in Turin but even last season, Allegri was looking for ways to rejuvenate an ageing defence which included Dani Alves (34), Bonucci (30), Giorgio Chiellini (32) and Andrea Barzagli (36), who combined for an age of 132 years.

The departure of Bonucci and Alves allows Allegri to give an opportunity to talented 22-year-old Daniele Rugani who could step up to fill the void.

Juventus are also a club which aims to be self-financing and although they spent big money last summer on Gonzalo Higuain, that was financed by the sale of Paul Pogba to Manchester United for 120m euros.This time, Bonucci's exit will allow them to permanently sign Douglas Costa from Bayern Munich for 42m euros.