Reports: Leo Bonucci also getting interest from Lazio over potential move

While it doesn’t exactly scream “bidding war” or anything close to it, things are shaping up to give Leonardo Bonucci at least a couple of different options to play out the final season of his professional career.

As we heard over the weekend, Bundesliga side Union Berlin had (out of nowhere) entered the chat to try and sign the veteran defender. Now, another club joined the group chat to make this decision just a little bit trickier for Bonucci.

According to SportItalia’s Alfredo Pedulla and Mirko Di Natale of TuttoJuve, Lazio — and former Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri — have held talks with Bonucci over a potential move to the Italian capital. Per Pedulla, Sarri has “given the green light” to his team bringing in Bonucci, who would likely leave Juventus on a free transfer and be willing to sign anywhere he wants after being frozen out of the squad at the start of preseason training. Given that the Serie A season starts this weekend and things have already gotten underway in Germany, Bonucci won’t likely take all that long to try and make a decision on where to go next, with a decision potentially coming in the next few days.

While things appear to be more advanced with Union Berlin, Lazio still have to have to negotiate any potential kind of contract with Bonucci, according to Pedulla. He says that Lazio’s interest in Bonucci is very much concrete, with Sarri’s past relationship with Bonucci during his one season coaching at Juventus supporting his decision to approve a deal.

Previous reporting over the weekend from Sky Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio said that Bonucci was open to a potential move to Union Berlin. That was, obviously, before Lazio became a concrete option that is now in the mix.

Both Union and Lazio are in the Champions League this season, with the former making Europe’s premier club competition for the first time ever in their history. Lazio are back in the Champions League for the first time since the 2020-21 season, making the round of 16 under former manager Simone Inzaghi.