Manchester City have reportedly shown an interest in signing Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci as an alternative target to Leicester’s Harry Maguire.
Corriere dello Sport reported [via Calciomercato] that Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are interested in the 32-year-old, who could leave Juventus after the Serie A champions’ signing of centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Bonucci feels undermined by that transfer and could exit the Turin-based club only a year after returning from AC Milan.
The Manchester Evening News added that, although Maguire remains of interest to Manchester City, a deal with Leicester is proving difficult to complete. Manchester United have already seen a £70million bid for the England defender rejected by the Foxes, as reported in The Sun.
Bonucci is a hugely decorated and experienced player, with a trophy haul that includes eight Serie A titles and three Coppas Italia in a career that has encompassed 514 club appearances and 89 caps for Italy.
The 32-year-old has a reputation as a player with a broad passing range and an ability to launch attacks with long-range passes, as noted by Blair Newman in The Guardian. Last season, he had a passing success rate of 86.6% and averaged 5.7 long passes per game out of 55.7, one long pass per 9.77 played.
Bonucci has scored 32 goals in his club career, seven of which have come from headers (21.8% of total). It comes as little surprise, then, that his threat from set-pieces has been acknowledged by Luca Persico for Football Italia.
Tackling is one area where the Italy defender is not the most proficient, with a match average of just 0.6. He has been booked 89 times and sent off on four occasions in his career, averaging a yellow card every 5.77 games and one red card per 128.5 games.
Maguire has played 333 club games, scoring 21 goals. Fourteen of those came with his head (66.7%), suggesting that he is much more of an aerial threat than Bonucci.
His passing accuracy of 85.6% is slightly worse than the Juventus man but he is more adept at playing long passes, averaging 6.2 per game out of 56.4 to give one long pass for every 9.1 in total.
Maguire has a far higher tackling average of 1.2 per game, although his disciplinary record of 66 yellow cards (one per 5.05 games) and four reds (one per 83.25 games) is worse than Bonucci’s.
Statistically, Maguire outperforms Bonucci on a number of metrics, although he might not necessarily represent better value.
The Italy defender is valued at £25.2m on TransferMarkt.co.uk and seems dispensable at Juventus following De Ligt’s arrival, whereas Leicester want more than £70m for Maguire and are not letting him go without a prolonged fight.
Also, Pep Guardiola has previously cited Bonucci as one of his favourite players, as reported by Football Italia, and now seems like the perfect time to get him instead of throwing money at Leicester in pursuit of Maguire.
Manchester City fans, would you rather see Bonucci playing for the club than Maguire? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!
