The captain will return from vacation on Monday and will meet Giuntoli. He still has one year of his contract and wants to end his career with the Lady
A captain amidst the waves of the market. Leonardo Bonucci hasn’t returned from vacation yet, but his name has filled sites and newspaper pages for days. Juventus would not want him anymore. The conditional is a must, because in reality the player has not been given any official communication. No comparison, not even by telephone, to date. Perhaps the first face-to-face will be on Monday, when Bonucci will reveal himself to the Continassa for the usual visits that mark the start of the new season. His thirteenth in the black and white shirt. He will thus have the opportunity to meet the new manager of the technical area Cristiano Giuntoli and, perhaps, clarify the club’s position on his future. He still has a year on his contract and feels he can be useful to the cause for which he has spent a good part of his career. With results there for all to see: eight championships, four Italian Cups, five Italian Super Cups and two (lost) Champions League finals.
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However, it is no mystery that Leo is no longer at the top of the preferences of Massimiliano Allegri, a coach with whom relations have been fluctuating for some time (the 2017 dispute is famous). But without digging up the remote past, it is current events that provide unequivocal figures. In the 39 games in which he was called up in 2022-23, in 23 he sat on the bench and 13 times he didn’t even set foot on the pitch. Some physical ailments limited him, but his technical choices seemed just as clear-cut. Like in Monza on 18 September, when in an already delicate moment for Juve, Leo was excluded by the owners, despite the fact that there was a break for the national teams immediately afterwards. The “excuse” of the turnover did not hold up and in fact Bonucci did not take it very well, even without recriminating. He’s not the type to put his own interest before that of the team.
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Yet Allegri, let’s face it, would probably do without Bonucci. But Juventus? Giuntoli has just arrived and will certainly want to talk to the player, to get an idea of his motivations, before thinking about any future scenario. For his part, the Juventus captain hasn’t moved an iota from what he had declared at the end of the season that has just ended. He still has one year on his contract, his absolute priority is Juve and at the moment he is not considering other clubs. But, at the same time, he has the right claim that it is the management that confirms him or not that he is an integral part of the project. Obviously, at 36, Leo can’t always be the defensive pillar he once was, despite the fact that he feels like a leader within the group and one of the team’s veterans. His intent is simply to put himself at the service of Juve and the team, as he believes he has always done. Certainly, Bonucci does not consider himself and does not want to be considered “a burden”.
the contract
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Also because, despite what some critics keep repeating, his salary is no longer among the highest in the squad. The agreement with the Bianconeri, in fact, provides for a “downhill” trend year after year. Thus, from the 6.5 million euros net at the start of the contract we have reached the 3.5 million expected for 2023-24. An average salary in today’s Juve. On par, for example, with another defender who is not considered in the starting lineup, Daniele Rugani. Here, if the coach and the club were to tell Bonucci clearly that he will be the last choice in the department, then Leo would take note of it. Looking for another club? For now the captain doesn’t want to think about it. In his head there is only Juve, where he wants to end his career.
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