Leonardo Bonucci's Close Call with Manchester City and Guardiola
Leonardo Bonucci has revealed just how close he came to walking away from Juventus at his peak, admitting Pep Guardiola and Manchester City left him “wobbling” during an intense courtship that clashed with his duties for Italy.
The former defender, who retired in 2024 and now works on Roberto Mancini’s Italy staff ahead of Nations League clashes with Belgium, Turkiye and France, lifted the lid on the tug-of-war that once threatened to pull him out of Turin.
Guardiola’s charm offensive
For years, Guardiola made no secret of his admiration for Bonucci – a centre-back who could pass like a deep-lying playmaker and launch attacks from the back. City pushed hard, and the Spaniard pushed harder.
“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.
“You really do start to wobble, and it was tough taking place during the Euros, where I had to be concentrated, but even during the tournament there were some discussions.”
This was not a bid for a promising youngster. This was Guardiola trying to prise away the heartbeat of a Juventus defence that had just hit its highest notes.
Peak years in black and white
Bonucci points to 2014/15 and 2015/16 as the seasons that catapulted him into the elite.
“The 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons allowed me to achieve incredible heights in my career,” he said. “I played in the Champions League Final against Barcelona in 2015, then a year later was at the European Championship, losing to Germany on penalties after I scored past Manuel Neuer. It was the start of my career truly taking off.”
By then, Bonucci had already become part of the furniture in Turin. He joined Juventus in 2010 and, aside from one turbulent season at Milan in 2017/18, stayed until 2023. The BBC backline – Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli – became the symbol of a dominant era.
So when City came with prestige and money, he did not just weigh up a transfer. He wrestled with an identity.
Torn between Guardiola and a lifelong dream
Behind the scenes, the offers were huge. Guardiola’s football suited him. The Premier League tempted him. Yet every time he looked towards Manchester, something pulled him back to Turin.
“As far as I was concerned, the idea of leaving Juventus made my heart ache,” he admitted. “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 club’s stance hardened that feeling. Juventus, he said, made it clear he would not be sold, even in the face of “an incredible offer.” That backing mattered. So did what was happening at home.
Family, illness and a clear decision
While Guardiola called and City pushed, Bonucci’s life was shaken by his son Matteo’s serious illness, diagnosed when the boy was just two. Suddenly, the idea of uprooting his family for a new league and a new country carried a very different weight.
“After the Euros, I spoke to Juve. 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,” he explained.
The professional attraction never disappeared.
“Working with Guardiola would’ve allowed me to have even greater experience, technically and tactically,” Bonucci said. But the emotional equation, once his family and Juventus were factored in, became straightforward.
He stayed. He kept winning. He remained the face of that back line.
The Milan detour and a lost focus
Ironically, Bonucci did eventually leave Juventus – not for City, but for Milan in 2017. That move, he stressed, came from a very different place, triggered by an infamous bust-up with coach Max Allegri.
“I had lost my focus with what happened in 2017,” he reflected. “I was about to become a pillar of Juventus, that was the path I was meant to be on.”
The Milan chapter lasted only a year. Once Allegri’s situation shifted, Bonucci returned to Turin and picked up the thread of the career he felt he was “meant” to have.
He never did get to work under Guardiola. Yet as he now steps into a new role on the Italy bench, with a Champions League final, a Euro triumph and a decade of dominance behind him, the question lingers: what would a Bonucci shaped by Guardiola have looked like in the Premier League – and how much more could he have added to a career that already touched the game’s summit?
