Veteran Buffon rules out retirement till 2023

Italian football legend Gianluigi Buffon has insisted that he’s not yet ready to call an end to his 27-year-long playing career.

The 44-year-old goalkeeper, who is preparing to enter a second season in goal for  Serie B side Parma, believes he can continue playing the sport until his mid-fifties.

The former Juventus legend revealed he’s unsure whether he’ll take up a role in football after hanging up his gloves – claiming that he would like to ‘experience something else.’

According to Alfredo Pedulla, Buffon said: ‘Ten years in Parma in the first life, then twenty years at Juventus in the second life, then one to Paris, two to Juve and now I close the circle in Parma and I’m in my second year.

‘And I’m not 100. Retired at 55? More or less. If I will train after the retirement? I have been thinking for many years about when I will stop. My ideas got confused, I’ve been thinking about it for 10 years but then I always go on.

‘I think I have had important experiences that allow me to get to know the world of football, but I’m not 100% sure that I will stay in this world. Maybe I’ll experience something else, I know football, I’m curious and I also like to know other worlds’.

At the end of February, Parma announced Buffon had signed a contract extension until 2024, which will keep him playing until the age of 46.

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The Italian became one of the most renowned goalkeepers in the world after a scintillating career at Juventus – where he claimed 10 Serie A titles and 12 Goalkeeper of the Year awards.

Having left the club for PSG in 2018, he returned just a year later to break the league’s appearance record – with his 657 caps leaving him 10 ahead of AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini.

After two seasons back with the Old Lady, the veteran shot-stopper was shipped back to Parma where he made 26 appearances in their mid-table league finish last season.