Was on brink of joining Manchester City but Juventus decided not to sell, admits Leonardo Bonucci

Few players have been as important as Leonardo Bonucci as the Italian international has made 449 appearances for Juventus while scoring 31 goals for the Old Lady ever since joined them in 2010. Bonucci has also helped the Serie A club in securing eight Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia cups, and five Supercoppa Italiana across two stints at the Italian club.

The Italian defender has spent his entire playing career in Italy with spells in Inter, Genoa, and Bari before joining Juventus in 2010 and he spent seven years at the club before leaving for AC Milan in 2017-18. But he returned to Juventus the following campaign while admitting that he made a mistake in leaving the Allianz Stadium. Not only that, the 34-year-old has now claimed that he had numerous opportunities to link up with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City but the deal didn't materialize for several different reasons.  

"I had this dream of being coached by Pep. The closest we came was in 2016. I was on the brink of joining City. We were down to the very last details then Juventus decided not to sell. We decided to stay together. Then, when I went to AC Milan, I could have gone to City but several things had to fall into place for it to happen. I’d also given my word to Milan. Last year, I spoke to Pep again,” Bonucci told The Athletic.

"He wanted me but I told him: ‘Juventus is my home. I’m happy here. I feel at home here’. I wanted to make up the ground I lost by going to Milan for a season. Becoming a symbol of Juventus again is the most exciting thing I could be doing in my career right now,” he added