No Retirement Yet For Gianluigi Buffon

Juventus goalkeeper and club legend Gianluigi Buffon gears up for 13th season at the top     
As each year passes, new contenders are put forward to replace Gianluigi Buffon at Juventus, and each year the goalkeeper doesn’t need replacing.
Thirteen years after he joined the Bianconeri as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper he has spent most of that time as its most consistent, and become the absolute embodiment of his club.
Contracted until the end of the coming season, already there is serious talk that he will sign a fresh deal until 2016.
Captain and club statesman, if he stays fit for the coming campaign Buffon can expect to become the third highest on the list of Juventus appearances, behind Gaetano Scirea and a certain Alessandro Del Piero.
The relationship between Buffon and ADP is one of the most intriguing subplots to Sunday’s encounter between the A-League All-Stars and Juve, after 11 years as teammates sharing many triumphs but also some deep tribulations.

At 36 Buffon has delivered everything and more that Juventus hoped for when they identified him as the long-term successor to Angelo Peruzzi.
“In 1999 when I moved back to Manchester United, I spoke to Juventus as well at the same time,” reveals former Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Bosnich.
“They were keen but they also were very upfront with me that it was basically for two years until they went to get Buffon — he was the one they wanted for the long term.”
That of course is exactly what happened when Juve signed Buffon from Parma for E51m in 2001, and that investment has been replaced many times over.
The honours since then tell the story at one level — seven Serie A titles (though two were annulled after the Calciopoli scandal in which Juve were demoted to Serie B for matchfixing), a Champions League finalist in 2003, close to 150 caps for Italy and a World Cup winner’s medal in 2006
But there are qualitative traits too, that mean he has absolute respect among his peers. His consistency and lack of showiness endear him to coaches; his gravitas as a Juventus face endears him to fans. And then there’s the man his teammates get to know.
“It takes a special type of goalkeeper to make their debut at 17 [for Parma] and stay at that level for so long,” said Jess Vanstrattan, the Australian goalkeeper who was Buffon’s deputy at Juventus in 2007-08.
“He’s really one in a generation — I’ve never known any goalkeeper so able to read a game like him, and to have that constant hunger to achieve.
“But as a person, it brings a smile to my face to remember the time we were playing together — so much fun to be around, he got everyone involved, loves playing a joke.”
The Juventus support has particular reason to venerate Buffon, of course. When Juve were demoted in 2006 as a result of Calciopoli, a host of stars departed such as Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Del Piero and Buffon stayed put.
“What gets a huge tick from me is the way he stuck with the club in the midst of that crisis,” said Bosnich.
“He could have gone to any club in the world but he was utterly loyal, and he’s been rewarded for doing the right thing.”