Three, maximum four days, and I will communicate where I will play next season. "It is the decisive week for Gigi Buffon. On vacation in his Forte dei Marmi he is rearranging his ideas and, above all, is awaiting the return to Italy of his agent. the final signing serves him, even if the 43-year-old goalkeeper seems to have clear ideas.
On his mobile phone they continue to call from all over Europe, so much so that he admits to having offers from clubs that "aim for the Champions" both for the starting role and for that, discarded at the start, second, but Parma is the chosen destination . "Next season I feel like playing, so I am also analyzing some returns to my origins and I do not hide the fact that I am evaluating Parma's proposal", said Buffon at the presentation of the Buffon Football Academy in Marina di Pietrasanta. The offer of the Emilian club, where his career began, is much more than a simple negotiation.
Parma president Kyle Krause contacted Buffon as early as the end of April and then left the field to the manager of the technical area Javier Ribalta who knows the player well due to his common past in Juventus. The agreement, in fact, would have been reached and Buffon, with his agent, should dissolve the last, now weak, reservations in the coming days and formalize the agreement on Krause's return to Parma.
The goalkeeper, who turned 43 last January, would receive a two-year contract with a rich prize in the event of promotion to Serie A. In addition, the role of color bearer of the team and, most likely, the captain's armband. And after two years on the pitch as a protagonist, Krause would be ready to offer "Supergigi" a role in his technical staff.
So, after 26 years, Gigi Buffon is preparing for a new debut with the cross shirt. It was in fact the distant 19 November 1995 when, due to the injury of the starting goalkeeper Luca Bucci, the then Parma coach Nevio Scala surprised everyone and chose the 17-year-old Buffon for the championship match with Milan. At the Tardini he finished 0-0 and Gigi was the best in the field. Buffon then won an Italian Cup, an Italian Super Cup and a Uefa Cup in Parma. Then there was the long militancy in Juventus and some disagreements with his old Parma fans who are now all ready to forget in order to go back to their origins.
"I feel good physically, I want to be a protagonist" concluded Buffon who then congratulated the boys from the National team involved in the European Championships, confirming that Donnarumma is "a national certainty". And who knows if, after the return to Parma, another challenge is not planned: the world championship in Qatar. On the other hand Buffon, at least in Parma, has always remained "Superman".