SportsJuve’s Legendary Goaltender Will Quit With The Season

Juve’s Legendary Goaltender Will Quit With The Season

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BEVERLY HILLS, May 11, (THEWILL) – Legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon of Serie A club Juventus will not be extending his contract beyond this season as the keeper has made it known that he will be leaving the club for the second time at the end of the current season.

The 43-year-old had moved from to Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain 2018 where he featured for the French club for a year only to return to the Old Lady the following season. His age notwithstanding, the veteran started 12 games this season, keeping six clean sheets, including a UEFA Champions League Group G fixture against La Liga side Barcelona, starring the iconic Lionel Messi.

As the season winds up to the end of his current contract, Buffon has revealed he has no intentions of signing another one. What it implies is that after 26 years since his professional debut, Gigi can leave as a free agent to contemplate years of retirement or, if he so desires, join another club on his own terms.

The goalkeeper also described it as the “definitive end” of what has been a “long and beautiful” association with the Italian heavyweights for him after over 700 games for the club over both of his spells on Turin.

Overall, Buffon notched up over 1,000 career games for club and country, including 176 senior caps for the Italian senior men’s national football team. Before Juve made his move to Turin the most expensive for a keeper, he was already into his 220th appearance for Parma. For 17 years, Buffon held the record of the most expensive goalkeeper with that 2001, and went on play over 650 games during his first spell before going to PSG.

His legend in Serie A is established with records to show for it. He holds the record for the most appearances and is only behind Alessandro Del Piero on Juve’s all-time list. Buffon is also the second most internationally capped European player of all time, with only Spain’s Sergio Ramos representing a European national team longer than Buffon.

For titles, he leaves Juventus with 10 Serie A trophies to his name, as well as four Coppa Italia trophies while at the Old Lady. But, those are not all because he was already collecting silverware with Parma before Juve and also won at PSG before returning to Turin.

In all, there is also the most coveted one, the World Cup trophy he won with Italy. However, hard as he tried, especially coming so close three different times in the finals of 2003, 2015 and 2017, he still failed to win a single UEFA Champions League title. Some believe it was one reason he kept playing for so long in the hope that he could get one.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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