Juventus boss Max Allegri on Leonardo Bonucci: “I’m sorry it ended like this” | OneFootball

Juventus manager Max Allegri has stated that he is ‘sorry’ that Leonardo Bonucci’s time at the club is ending like it has.

The Bianconeri excluded Bonucci from their project before they jetted off to the United States for their pre-season friendlies, leaving the veteran to be training alone. Later, the defender’s agents complained against Juventus and it has now become a legal fiasco, with the player set to leave.

Union Berlin, Genoa and Lazio are interested in the ex-Milan man. Recently, Allegri spoke to DAZN (via La Gazzetta dello Sport) in a lengthy interview and he gave his views about Bonucci and how his time is ending.

He said: “I’m sorry it ended like this, but we’ve been clear with Leo since last February when the club and I spoke to him several times telling him that next year would be a year in which he would have to decide to continue elsewhere or quit.”

Allegri further stated: “He gave a lot to Juve and Juve gave a lot to him. He has to make an important decision and not look at a year, but at what the future is because he is young. What I say now I said in unsuspecting times. It’s normal, when a champion like him reaches the end of his career, that there’s a fear of quitting. I wasn’t a champion, I had a normal career and it was easy for me to quit. The dynamics are the same, the difference is that one must have the ability to accept first. If he accepts first it’s good for himself, if he accepts later he gets bored. For me he was an extraordinary, important player. He will remain in the history of Juve, 500 games in Juve have been made by a few.”

Bonucci remains out of the club’s project and continues to train alone, with Juve having won once and drawn once in the Serie A so far. The player is said to be prefer a move to Lazio, where he could play under ex-Juve boss Maurizio Sarri but it remains to be seen how his situation unfolds in the next few days.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN