Report: Gianluigi Buffon To Leave Italy To Play With Paris Saint-Germain

TheSportster

By Rodrigo Lobato

Published Jul 8, 2018

Gianluigi Buffon is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of this generation, but he will be going abroad to play with Paris Saint-Germain.

The most famous goalkeeper of our generation, Gianluigi Buffon, will be confirmed as a Paris Saint-Germain player this Monday, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien.

The Parisian newspaper added that the 40-year-old player, who this year retired from the Italian club Juventus and the Italian national team, will sign a contract for one season with a second-year option and undergo his PSG medical.

The Italian legend did not pass through his best moment this year, after he missed a world cup for the first time in his career, and being eliminated by Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Champions League. However, the world-cup-champion could have one last chance to reach the Champions' trophy, which he has not been able to win despite having played in three finals. This may be his ultimate goal to achieve after an outstanding career with a long list of titles, including the 2006 world cup, the UEFA Cup, and nine Italian league championships.

Buffon will become the first signing under the new PSG manager, Thomas Tuchel, joining a team full of international stars which include: Mbappé, Cavani , Di Maria and the most expensive football player in the world, Neymar; who were all considered big failures this year after being defeated in the last-16 of the Champions League.

This is not only great news for the Juventus former player, but also for the European fans, who didn’t want to see another player from the old continent retire in the MLS, as has been the case for other superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo and recently, Wayne Rooney.

This could be Gianluigi Buffon's last chance to try to reach the long-awaited European title before he hangs up his gloves. However, it is important to remember that he will miss the first three matches of the Champions League as a result of a ban applied by UEFA last June because of his angry protest to the referee for a penalty in the match against Real Madrid on April 11, 2018, in which the Italians lost 3-1.

This is only the beginning of a post-World Cup free agency season that will take place in the following months, with big signings in the most relevant teams.