Leonardo Bonucci told Manchester City that he wanted to sign for them in a bid to work under Pep Guardiola, according to the club's CEO.
Ferran Soriano spoke exclusively to Spanish radio station "?RAC1 on Wednesday, and made the claim about the Juventus defender wanting to join Guardiola's revolution at the Etihad during the summer transfer window.
Bonucci was heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, with City and Chelsea both hotly tipped to make moves for the centre-half.
The 31-year-old is rated as one of the finest central defenders in Europe, if not the world, and has helped Juventus win 10 trophies during his six-year spell in Turin.
Despite no concrete offer being forthcoming, however, Soriano claimed that Bonucci had made it known to the Citizens of his desire to work under ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola - and was so desperate to do so that the Italy international rung City to express his interest.
Soriano said: "At the moment there are a lot of players that want to play under Pep. The Italian central defender [Leo] Bonucci wants to play for him and he called us."
"?However, Soriano, who was vice president at Barcelona for five years before resigning in 2008, went on to add that the reigning Serie A champions halted any potential deal before it had got going as they were unwilling to sell their prized asset for any price.
He continued: "I called the Juventus sporting director and he told me they didn't want to sell. There ended the story!"
Soriano also clarified rumours that City were chasing four Barcelona stars before the transfer window shut at the start of September.
Interesting story lost in did Pep v Mundo Deportivo bust up. Soriano claims Bonucci's agent phoned City because he wants to play with Pep
"?Speculation in the media on Tuesday suggested that Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and Sergio Busquets were all on Guardiola's radar as the Spaniard plotted a reunion with some of his former players.
Soriano, though, stated that City only made enquiries about goalkeeping pair Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo - the latter of whom eventually joined City.
He added: "It was brought to our attention that both want to play every game and weren't happy with the situation. From there we talked with Barca and we asked if they wanted to sell one. Bravo ended up coming."
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