Mourinho Drops Major Hint On The Possible Signing Of Leonardo Bonucci
Written By Onyeka Daniel
For the past few days, reports have surfaced on the possible return of Italian defender, Leonardo Bonucci to Italy, 6 months after leaving Juventus for German club, Union Berlin, with Italian side, AS Roma looking to add him to their team in January.
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When reports of his possible signing emerged, fans of the Giallorossi had protested against this signing on social media, owing to his past with their rivals, Juventus and AC Milan, and this may certainly affect the transfer.
Roma manager, José Mourinho has hinted that Roma won’t sign Bonucci because fans are against the deal, but he has ‘no info’ about Renato Sanches leaving the Stadio Olimpico in January. Multiple reports in Italy claim the Giallorossi won’t sign Bonucci in the January transfer window after fans protested on social media for the potential signing of the former Juventus star.
At the same time, Portuguese midfielder Sanches has been tipped to leave the capital in January as the Portuguese midfielder has been struggling with injuries at Roma and was subbed off after barely 20 minutes since his introduction from the bench in an away game at Bologna two weeks ago.
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Mourinho was asked for transfer updates during a press conference on Friday and whether he needs a new centre-back in the winter transfer window. “Need? No, zero need. Desire yes,” he replied. “I feel comfortable speaking about Renato because he is our player. As for Bonucci, I don’t feel comfortable. I think he must be respected and the way to do it is to not talk about a player under contract with Union Berlin. I see no reason to talk about Bonucci.”
Can fans influence a negotiation as it seemingly happened with Bonucci? “It’s a very personal opinion. I always say that the club’s heart is the fans, but there are owners and structures who are sovereign and must decide,” Mou replied. “When you do something that the fans really like, you are fuelling that passion and that love. When you do something they don’t like, I think it shouldn’t be done and I can’t say more than this.
“As for Renato, I have no information about his chances to leave. No information,” he continued. “Neither from Renato nor from his agents who are also mine. Not a message, not a word about his situation and we are talking about the same agents. “I have no info from Pinto and no information about Renato leaving.
“Obviously, he is going through a difficult situation, and it’s complicated for me, too, but I have no news about him [leaving].” Will he be available against Juventus? “It’s a doubt because the week hasn’t been tidy in terms of work. He hasn’t worked like all the others. Surely, he won’t play; we will decide if he joins the team or not.” Sanches joined Roma on loan from PSG last summer and has scored one goal in nine appearances across all competitions this term.
Meanwhile…
Juventus manager, Massimiliano Allegri believes that his team are in for a tough test against Jose Mourinho and Roma in Serie A on Saturday evening, but has insisted that the Old Lady always go into matches aiming for maximum points. The Bianconeri coach sat down for his pre-match press conference on Friday, admitting that the team are in a good run of form, but warned that they cannot get ahead of themselves just yet.
“We are in a good period but football lives off balance, so we need to keep our feet on the ground. At the moment we are not even halfway through the season, once these next two matches are over we will see where we will be in the standings,” Allegri explained. Roma, like Juventus, are aiming for a return to the Champions League next season. The Giallorossi currently find themselves in sixth place in Serie A, but a win over Juventus would do their top four hopes the world of good.
“Tomorrow we face a frustrating team, with one of the best coaches, he doesn’t give you any advantages, if you’re not careful he’ll take you out of the match. They have talented players up front, we must not overdo it and be patient,” Allegri said. “This is a direct clash against a strong team that has the same ambitions as us. They beat Napoli last week, a difficult match, it will be a tough game. I select the young players, but the credit goes to those who believed in them and helped them grow and now there is a nice heritage at Juventus.”
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In terms of availability, Juventus have a relatively healthy set of options to chose from across the pitch, with only three players definitely out. “Apart from De Sciglio, who has already done a couple of half-training sessions with the team, Alex Sandro who will have training for about ten days and Kean, the others are all fine. “Tomorrow morning I will decide who to play, Weah can go on the right, McKennie with Miretti as the midfielders. I have a few ideas.”
On the areas that Juventus could improve on, Allegri added: “When we concede goals like we have, which we’re not used to because they’ve been too easy, we talk about it. The details make the difference, we have to go back to being afraid of letting goals in, otherwise you’ll make careless mistakes.”
On the differences between Juve striker Dusan Vlahovic and summer target Romelu Lukaku, Allegri said: “I have never coached Lukaku so I don’t know. Vlahovic is an important player for Juventus, we all believe in him, he is growing and like all young players he has a bright future.” He further added.
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