Bonucci reveals how close he came to Man United move

Matt Stead

Leonardo Bonucci has explained how he almost joined both Manchester City and Manchester United.

Bonucci became the 532nd centre-half linked with United this summer, with his one-year stay with Milan coming to an end.

He would eventually opt to return to Juventus, who he almost left in 2016 to join City.

The 31-year-old, rediscovering his best form in Turin, has opened up on how he almost graced the Premier League on two separate occasions.

“Basically there have been some possibilities both with Manchester City and with Manchester United,” Bonucci told the Daily Telegraph.

“With Manchester City when I received that offer (in 2016) 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.”

Bonucci then confirmed that United made an offer at the end of last season, but that there was no chance he would move to Old Trafford when Juventus made their interest known.

“I feel at home,” he added. “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’.”