Bonucci: There Was Negotiation With Zenit St. Petersburg Over Summer Move

Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has confirmed that there was negotiation with Zenit St. Petersburg during the summer transfer window for a prospective move to Russia.

The 24-year-old joined the Turin giants from Bari in the summer of 2010 and featured in 34 Serie A games for them in the 2010-11 campaign with mixed results, as the former Italian champions finished seventh in Serie A.

Juve’s general director Giuseppe Marotta revealed in August that Zenit had placed an offer for Bonucci which they had rejected, and now the Italy international himself has disclosed information about the bid.

“I want to stay here at Juve," the centre-back is quoted as saying by Juventus’ official website. “There was a sort of negotiation with Zenit St. Petersburg, but both the club and I decided to continue this relationship, and now it’s up to me to continue to improve.”

Bonucci has played in three league matches for Juve under Antonio Conte so far this season and featured in their goalless draw with Chievo in Verona on Sunday.

Reflecting on their performance at the Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, the former Inter central defender explained: “We knew that the match would be difficult.

“Napoli lost here in Verona [1-0 in September], and Chievo’s position in the table with nine points means that they’re an excellent side.

“We’re upset, because a victory would have meant adding another piece to our improvement. However, we’re happy with the right way we approached the match."

Conte’s side are currently level on 12 points with Udinese at the top of the table after six rounds of matches, and Bonucci wants his team-mates to carry on working hard.

“Being at the top of the table gives us conviction, but we must work hard and focus on ourselves without considering the results of other the teams,” he stated. “We must continue to show the intensity which marked our season start.”

Leonardo Bonucci insists that he feels like a key man at Juventus again – just months after almost leaving the club.

The defender was rumoured to be on his way to Zenit St Petersburg in the summer as part of the deal that could have potentially seen Bruno Alves arrive in Turin.

However, after again starting for the Old Lady in yesterday’s 0-0 draw with Chievo, the 2010 signing is feeling good about himself.

“The club wanted Bruno Alves and started negotiations with Zenit, but an agreement couldn’t be reached,” he is quoted as saying.

“I now feel the full support of the club though. I want to stay here at Juventus, the club and I decided to continue our relationship and now it is up to me to continue improving.”

Bonucci started alongside Andrea Barzagli in Verona after Giorgio Chiellini was again shifted into the left-back role.

“We knew that the match would have been difficult,” the centre-back added. “Napoli lost here in Verona, and Chievo’s position in the table with nine points means that they’re an excellent side.

“We’re upset, because a victory would have meant adding another piece to our improvement. However, we’re happy for the right way we’ve approached the match.

“Being at the top of the table gives us conviction, but we must work hard being focused on ourselves and without considering the results of the other teams.

“We must continue to show the intensity which marked our season start.”

Bonbon is much better now and he can play CB starter

He just bought a house in turin, so he wants to stay obviously. I think marotta was just testing the market to see what his value was. I believe in him, and along side barzagli and chiellini we have the best Defensive line in the league. Thats the line up we should use until we get a new LB, which i feel is more important than a CB at the moment.

But will he stay after De Ceglie recovers? He is injured, no? And if CB comes, lot of talk about Alex and Rodolpho?

I think Chiellini should stay as our LB and Barzaghli and Bonucci should play CB, PDC can be our backup LB and all we need are a few CB's for depth as Sorensen should be loaned out so he can develop!

I'm pretty sure deceglie was on the bench for the past game or two.. conte's just been fielding the strongest back line available and that's with chiellini at lb. I also think bonucci would rather fight for his spot at juve than to be shipped off to russia and ruin his career with the national team.

We need top class CB with barzagli to compete with Bonucci