Leonardo Bonucci's agent confirms player will leave Juventus

Bonucci's agent Alessandro Lucci has added fuel to the rumours surrounding the defender's departure after confirming that he is "working on a sale".

The 30-year-old was strongly linked with a move to Chelsea at the start of the transfer window but Bonucci quickly played those rumours down, calling them "chatter" and seemingly pledged his future to Juventus.

However, in a shocking turn of events, his agent Alessandro Lucci has now confirmed that the player will leave Juventus. Speaking on Italian sports channel Sportsitalia, Lucci replied to a question about Bonucci's future by saying: "We're working on a sale."

What makes his statement carry more weight is that fact that it follows strong reports yesterday claiming that AC Milan approached Lucci about a possible deal for Bonucci. 

Italian news site Forza Italian Football claimed that Bonucci's relationship with manager Massimiliano Allegri is rocky and that he wants a new challenge in his career similar to that of Andre Pirlo when he moved to Juventus at the age of 31. 

While Chelsea and Manchester City are still interested, the player is not keen on resettling his family in another country and wants to remain in Italy. AC Milan are the frontrunners at the moment but cross-town rivals Inter Milan are also reportedly monitoring the situation.  

Juventus will only be willing to open negotiations if their asking price of €45 million is met. At this point in time, no clubs have directly contacted Juventus for a possible transfer, but that is expected to change in the next few days.