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Football

23rd Oct 2018

Leonardo Bonucci reveals he rejected a move to Manchester United

Simon Lloyd

Had things worked out differently, Leonardo Bonucci might have been wearing the red of Manchester United on Tuesday night, not the black and white stripes of Juventus

Bonucci returned to Juve in the summer after a year away at AC Milan but, ahead of their Champions League clash at Old Trafford, has revealed he could have been playing his football in Manchester had things worked out differently.

As well as holding talks with Manchester City about the possibility of a move to the Etihad two years ago, the Italian international has confirmed in an interview with the Telegraph that United also made an offer for him in the summer.

“Basically there have been some possibilities both with Manchester City and with Manchester United,” he explains.

“With Manchester City when I received that offer I actually talked to the club, I talked to Juventus and we decided that it was good for me to stay and to keep on winning with Juventus.

“And this year when I was told there was a possibility to go back home, to come back to Juventus, I just stopped listening to any other offers and I decided to come back here.”

Asked if this meant that United had tried to sign him, he replied: “Yes,” before reiterating he was only interested in a return to Turin.

“I feel at home,” he adds. “Here I really do my best, I just push myself to the maximum and that’s something at Milan I really didn’t manage, I didn’t succeed to achieve and that was probably because in my heart I had already made the decision that I wanted to go back home.

“The decision was not made until June but it’s true that I had this feeling inside me. So when my agent told me there was a tangible opportunity to go back I just stopped listening to anyone telling me what to do, I stopped listening to any kind of suggestion and I just said ‘OK, let’s go home’.”