Report: Milan offer €30 million to sign Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci

So, I guess this thing is becoming a thing.

A pretty annoying thing at that, too.

It’s no surprise that after what Leonardo Bonucci’s agent said late Wednesday night that the very next morning is when the Italian press is jumping through all kinds of hoops to try and get ahead of the story. The latest development involves Milan, the club that has been most-heavily linked to Bonucci in this latest round of transfer rumors, offering Juventus €30 million to sign the 30-year-old Italian, according to Sky Sports Italia.

However, said €30 million offer isn’t good enough in Juventus’ eyes. That’s because if they are to sell Bonucci — and who the hell knows what is going on at this point — the price tag to see him leave Turin would be something around €45 million.

Yes. That’s a reported €45 million asking price for arguably the best defender there currently is in the world. That’s €45 million in this kind of market. That’s a market that has big clubs spending massive amounts of money for good players. But a world-class defender who is in the prime of his career? Just €45 million?

I don’t get it, either.

There’s also this, courtesy of Sky’s Gianluca Di Marzio:

The agent had conversations both with the rossoneri and Juventus this morning, just as Bonucci started his medical for his upcoming season with Juventus. Presently, however, Milan is still far away on the total amount of the transaction, even including De Sciglio. Juventus' policy is to not hold back any player that wants to leave. If a deal were to close, it would be up to Bonucci to disclose his decision for leaving the club.

It must be said that Bonucci did arrive for his medicals at J Medical in Turin just like the a good number of Juventus’ core. Giorgio Chiellini was there. Andrea Barzagli was there. Claudio Marchisio was there. Same goes for Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Mario Mandzukic and Stephan Lichtsteiner. The whole crew was there giving their thumbs up as they posed for the cameras.

Who knows what Bonucci actually wants to see happen at this point. Maybe he wants to leave, maybe he wants to stay and continue to win lots of trophies at Juventus and be a part of the family he talked about on the day he signed a contract extension until 2021.

This isn’t the last we’ve heard about this. Not by a long shot, folks.