Manchester City close to landing Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus in £50million deal

Manchester City are close to landing Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus in a £50million deal.

City have seen off Antonio Conte’s bid to be reunited with Bonucci at Chelsea and Juve are prepared to let the Italy centre-half leave.

City have stepped up talks over the last 24 hours and the Italian champions are demanding £50million (60million euros), which would equal the transfer world record fee for a defender.

Blues boss Pep Guardiola is not put off by Juve’s asking price and feels Bonucci could become the cornerstone of his defence because of injury concerns over Vincent Kompany.

Reports in Italy claim Bonucci, who is currently on holiday, is keen to come to the Etihad and that City are offering him a contract worth nearly £140,000-a-week.

Juventus have prepared for Bonucci’s departure by landing former City target Medhi Benatia from Bayern Munich on a season-long loan deal.

They are also signing Marko Pjaca from Dinamo Zagreb and his agent, Marko Naletilic, claims that the £18.5million deal should be done this week.