Leonardo Bonucci's Tempting Move to Manchester City
Leonardo Bonucci has revealed just how close he came to swapping Turin for Manchester, admitting he was “tempted” by Pep Guardiola and Manchester City but ultimately unable to walk away from Juventus.
The former defender, who retired in 2024 and is now on Roberto Mancini’s Italy coaching staff preparing for Nations League clashes with Belgium, Turkiye and France, looked back on the sliding doors moment that could have reshaped his career – and City’s.
Guardiola’s long courtship
Guardiola never hid his admiration for Bonucci. The Catalan saw in him a rare profile: a centre-back with the passing range and vision of a playmaker, a defender who could launch attacks as comfortably as he could snuff them out.
“For my style of football, the coach who is best suited and most appreciates playing out from the back is Guardiola,” Bonucci told World Soccer Agency, via Sport Mediaset. “So he courted me for many weeks, and let me tell you, being courted by Guardiola is not like any other experience.”
The calls kept coming. The flattery was relentless. And even a player as rooted in Juventus as Bonucci felt the ground shift.
“You really do start to wobble,” he admitted. “It was tough taking place during the Euros, where I had to be concentrated, but even during the tournament there were some discussions.”
Peak years and a career taking off
By then, Bonucci was operating at his peak.
“The 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons allowed me to achieve incredible heights in my career,” he said. He had just played in the 2015 Champions League final against Barcelona, the culmination of a Juventus run that confirmed their return to Europe’s elite.
A year later, he was at Euro 2016, converting a pressure penalty past Manuel Neuer in the quarter-final against Germany before Italy went out in the shootout. “It was the start of my career truly taking off,” he reflected.
Those years cemented his status as the fulcrum of a Juventus back line that dominated Serie A and twice reached the Champions League final. His journey in Turin began in 2010 and officially ended in 2023, with only a brief detour to Milan in 2017/18.
Torn between the Premier League and a lifelong dream
Before that Milan move, though, came City’s push. The Premier League, Guardiola, a new challenge at the heart of an ambitious project. On paper, it was everything a modern defender could want.
Inside, the battle raged.
“As far as I was concerned, the idea of leaving Juventus made my heart ache,” Bonucci said. “Some days I’d say to myself, oh wonderful, the Premier League and Guardiola, but then the day after I remembered that I had always dreamed of Juventus.”
The pull of the Etihad was strong. The pull of the Allianz Stadium was stronger. Juventus, for their part, stood firm, resisting “massive offers” and making their stance clear: he was not for sale, even for an “incredible offer.”
That clarity, and his own doubts, tipped the scales.
Family, illness and a clear decision
Off the pitch, life delivered a far more serious jolt. Bonucci’s son Matteo was diagnosed with a serious illness at just two years old, a moment that reshaped his priorities.
“After the Euros, I spoke to Juve,” Bonucci recalled. “Matteo’s illness and the fact I didn’t feel 100 per cent about leaving Juve, especially as the club told me that I would not be sold even if an incredible offer came in, made it a normal decision to stay.”
The idea of uprooting his family, of leaving the club he had grown up dreaming about, no longer made sense.
“Working with Guardiola would’ve allowed me to have even greater experience, technically and tactically,” he admitted. The professional temptation never vanished. But the personal equation had changed.
The Milan break and a path almost lost
Ironically, Bonucci did eventually walk away from Juventus – not for City, but for Milan in 2017, in a move fuelled not by ambition abroad but by an internal rift at home.
That transfer came in the wake of a notorious falling-out with coach Max Allegri, a clash that shattered the equilibrium he had built in Turin.
“I had lost my focus with what happened in 2017,” he said. “I was about to become a pillar of Juventus, that was the path I was meant to be on.”
He spent just one season at Milan before returning to Juventus, once Allegri had stepped aside, to resume the role he believed was his destiny.
Guardiola’s City moved on and built their empire without him. Bonucci stayed loyal to the club he had always dreamed of, carrying the black and white shirt through triumphs and turbulence. The offers were real, the temptation was strong, but in the end his career – and his heart – stayed in Turin.
