Italian international reveals he considered exit two years ago.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has revealed that he considered a change two years ago, before coach Antonio Conte convinced him to stay at the club.
The 35-year-old is widely regarded as the best stopper in the game, but after a problematic 2010/11 campaign affected by injury he has revealed he thought about leaving the Turin giants.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday, the Italian international said that he received a phone call from Conte after it was announced he would be appointed the new Bianconeri coach back in 2011, and he helped change his mind over his future.
“I was expecting a call from Conte. He told me some beautiful and important things.
“In the previous season, which was the first under the Presidency of Andrea Agnelli, I hardly played in the first half of the campaign because of injury and I wasn’t myself in the second.
“My head was elsewhere. I thought the time had come for me to change, to leave Juventus.
“However then the new directors and I got to know each other better and their opinion of me changed. To have the maturity to fix relationships after some disagreements bonds you even more.
“That telephone call from Conte was important and, from that moment, I was even more of a Juventino than I was before.”
Buffon has been a fixture of the Juve squad since his move from Parma back in 2001, and is particularly fondly received by the supporters after he decided to remain with the club after they were demoted to Serie B as part of the Calciopoli scandal in 2006.
His current contract will see him stay in Turin until 2015, and after helping the Serie A giants to back-to-back league titles over the past two years, he is expected to play a vital role in their bid for a “three-peat” while also making an impression in the Champions League.
The veteran also remains Cesare Prandelli’s first-choice for the Azzurri, and he will be hoping that his club form ensures he starts in Brazil next summer for the World Cup.
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