Juventus's Leonardo Bonucci agrees to join Milan in shock move

The Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has agreed to join Serie A rivals Milan. The Italian international, who has been with the Turin club for seven years, is signing a five-year deal with the Milanese club and is hopeful of concluding the deal before the weekend.

Bonucci, regarded as one of the best defenders in the world, has not always seen eye to eye with the Juventus manager, Max Allegri, and the pair traded insults during a game against Palermo last season, with the defender subsequently being dropped against Porto. The defender was travelling to Milan for his medical on Friday morning.

Milan will pay €40m (£35.2m) for the 30-year-old, who has won 70 caps for Italy, and the move continues an incredible summer of investment by the new Chinese owners. They have already spent more than £100m on new players, including André Silva (from Porto, £33.5m), Ricardo Rodriguez (from Wolfsburg, £13.2m), Hakan Calhanoglu (from Bayer Leverkusen, £22m), Andrea Conti (from Atalanta, £21.1m) and Mateo Musacchio (Villarreal, £15m) among others.

Bonucci, who started his career at Milan’s city rivals Internazionale, has won the Italian league title six years in a row and claimed the Italian Cup three times in his seven years. He has reached two Champions League finals during his time in Turin, losing both, against Barcelona in 2015 and against Real Madrid last month.

(THE GUARDIAN)