Leonardo Bonucci made his return to the Juventus starting line-up over the weekend, after a (true) blazing row with manager Massimiliano Allegri saw him banished to the stands for their midweek Champions League knockout round first leg match against Porto. Unsurprisingly, the debacle was enough to reignite the transfer rumours linking the talented Italian international to a switch to the Premier League, with previously linked Chelsea and Manchester City supposedly getting back in line for his services.
But according to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Il Bianconero), Real Madrid are now also in the chase for Bonucci's signature. The La Liga giants are willing to offer €60 million for the centre back, thus meeting Juve's reported asking price on Bonucci. Meanwhile, Chelsea are supposedly mulling over a £42m bid to test Juve’s resolve, as per The Sun.
According to the tabloid, The Old Lady might be willing to let go of their star veteran defender in their efforts to bring in the next generation of defenders like Mattia Caldara, who’s impressed on loan at Atalanta, and Daniele Rugani, who’s impressed in limited appearances for Juventus. Perhaps Chelsea would be well advised to follow a similar route?
That said, Bonucci is still in his prime and is putting in generally top notch performances week in and week out for Juventus. While spending a huge amount on a 30-year-old may not be the smartest — and how would we handled the club’s one-year contract policy for the oldies? — Bonucci is probably the best upgrade we could make to our defence at this time.