Italian international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has said he intends to stay with Juventus despite the club being relegated to the second division for involvement in match-fixing.
Buffon told Turin’s La Stampa newspaper that he had no intention of following other top names such as Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira, all of whom have joined other clubs.
”This club made a winner out of me and if today I am a world champion, it is all thanks to Juve,” he said.
”At least it will be a new challenge — to win the second division title.”
Buffon, who kept goal for Italy in the World Cup final win over France last month, said that had Juventus stayed in the first division he would probably have left.
”I have been with Juve for five years and to be honest I was keen to try something different,” he said.
”It could have been with AC Milan, Inter Milan or even Arsenal. I think more than likely it would have been AC Milan.”
Juventus were relegated to the Italian second division and given a 17-point handicap for the new season after they were found guilty of being heavily involved in the match-fixing scandal that rocked football in the country. — AFP
