Reports: Gianluigi Buffon closing in on deal with Paris Saint-Germain

Very early in his farewell press conference last Thursday, Gianluigi Buffon left the door open to play on beyond this season. He wanted to think about things, obviously, but made it be known that playing abroad was a definite option that he was certainly considering.

His next club appears to be coming into focus.

According to reports in both France and Italy, Buffon is reportedly close to a deal with French champions Paris Saint-Germain. Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio says that Buffon and PSG have pretty much agreed on a two-year contract that would see Buffon play on until he’s 42 years old in 2020.

As Sky also points out, a deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday.

I guess those of us who wanted Buffon to side with retirement after such an emotional and wonderful goodbye in Saturday’s season final will have to re-evaluate things.

Over the weekend, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi talked about the possibility of Buffon joining the club with French newspaper L’Equipe. He said:

We have Areola as a goalkeeper, he’s our number one. And will also be next season. Buffon? He’s an amazing goalkeeper, very charismatic, a great man. I’m sure every club would want him.

(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)

As we saw this past season, it’s not like at his age that Buffon is going to start every match. There was an injury, sure, but Buffon and Wojciech Szczesny were nearly 50-50 down the middle in terms of minutes played in Serie A this season.

But if Buffon wants to play on, then I guess we have to respect that. It will be weird to see him playing for another team and wearing another jersey, but if that’s what he wants, then I would say he’s earned the right to choose his final landing spot.

I personally hoped it was on a vineyard somewhere so that Andrea Pirlo could come visit, but you can’t always get what you want.