Parma goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has received a £25m-per-season contract from Saudi Arabia, with other incentives, such as a post-retirement coach.
After leaving Juventus in 2021, goalkeeper Buffon returned to his childhood team, where he started his professional career in 1995. The Italian legend is still active in his professional career at the age of 45 and still one year contract with Parma.
Ahead of his 28th professional season, the 2006 World Cup-winning goalkeeper may again make a shocking move, and possibly the last of his glorious career.
According to a source from Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, the keeper Buffon has received an attractive amount of money to join the Asian Saudi Pro League. A team of wealthy oil owners whose names have yet to be announced are willing to pay him £25m a year. Just nod, he will immediately join the wave of elderly care in Asia
At the age of 45, Buffon still shows no signs of slowing down in form. During the 2022-2023 season, Buffon suffered a groin injury that limited his playing time. But after returning, he regained the main position and made 17 appearances to help Parma advance into the playoffs for promotion.
Corriere dello Sport also reported that Buffon had to make a decision whether to join Saudi Arabia or not, as he also has the right to own an exclusive image and will sit as a coach as soon as he retires. He could retire after nearly three decades of playing professionally, and now he has to choose between two options, continue to play for Parma or end his career in the Saudi Arabian football village.
The decision is in your hands. It is worth noting that Buffon has only played outside Italy once in his career when he joined France’s Paris Saint-Germain in 2018. He won the Ligue 1 title and the French Super Cup with the Paris side before returning to Juventus. a year later.
This year has been full of surprises for Saudi Arabia’s professional football league, with the arrival of many big European stars joining their premier league. It all started with Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Al Nassr last December, when the Portuguese superstar left Europe for the first time in his career.
In the current summer transfer window, Karim Benzema, Hakim Ziyech, Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy and Ruben Neves have joined the Saudi Pro League with great value contracts. Could the veteran Italian goalkeeper be next? The £25m-a-year salary is more than enticing, and the 45-year-old keeper may well be willing to challenge himself outside of Europe for the first time in his career.
It’s extremely hard to see Buffon playing for another big team due to his age. So he might as well make the jump and move to Saudi to enjoy a new professional experience towards the end of his career.