Chelsea are ready to make a staunch bid of £48.3m for Leonardo Bonucci. The Juventus defender has been long on the radar of Antonio Conte and the Italian player wants to land him anyhow before the next season starts.
Signing a new centre-back is one of the priorities for the Italian gaffer. John Terry will be leaving the club and might test his mettle at Bournemouth who are very eager to take the veteran defender on their side. Conte has a number of high-profile defenders at his disposal but the departure of Terry has made him think twice.
He deployed a three-man backline this season as Chelsea romped on to win the Premier League title. Despite their domination in the English top tier, there are some few little things which Conte wants to sort out. David Luiz has changed his game a lot and is now a more accomplished defender but a number of times he has been caught off guard and Conte wants to put a more sound defender alongside him to make the Chelsea backline rock solid.
Also, Cesar Azpilicueta has been pretty consistent for the Blues but the fact that he is basically a fullback and Conte might feel the need to use him in his original position.
Chelsea reportedly had a meeting with Bonucci’s representative Alessandro Lucci who was in London to have a formal chat with the club. The 30-year-old defender has made it a habit of winning trophies in Turin as he won his sixth straight Scudetto.
Juventus want minimum £61m to let the defender leave the club. The Italian club has the knack to release players for a suitable fee and we have seen this at during the sale of Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal.
If Bonucci does leave the Turin side, they don’t have to be panic stricken as the replacements are seemingly ready. Daniele Rugani and Mattia Caldara are ready to take the opportunity on their shoulder. Rugani showed his qualities with Empoli last season while Caldara has been in excellent form for Atalanta this season.
Chelsea are also expected to offer him a much higher wage than what he is currently getting. The English giants are ready to splash £6.6m on him per season. Bonucci had the experience to work with Conte at Juventus and Italy national team and it seems they are ready to reignite their collaboration once more.
