Buffon confirms when he will retire by

Gianluigi Buffon has revealed in an interview with 'The Guardian' that he is thinking of retiring in 2023 at the latest, but this does not mean he will not retire before that. At the moment, at the age of 43, he is still thinking about renewing at Juventus. 

21 years after his debut in 1995 against Parma, the Italian World Cup winner is still playing. He has accepted he is the second choice keeper at Juve after his brief spell at PSG and he still has to decide whether to remain at Juventus after the summer. 

The thing is, whatever happens, he has a date when he will definitely retire by: "In my mind, my career will end by June 2023. That is the latest, but I could also stop playing in four months time."

"I've learnt that there's nothing certain in life, but I never imagined playing for so much time," Buffon continued. "I keep on growing. When I'm with my wife and kids, I don't need anything else. In life, it's important to make mistakes and pay the price for the errors made to reflect."

He also explained how life was like during lockdown when football was stopped for a few months. "The first month of COVID-19 lockdown was marvellous for me. For the first time, I could spend the whole day with my wife and kids, have time for myself. Then, it got tiresome. I thought more and more about those who were dying. I was aware how lucky I was. It's not the same being stuck at home in a house with a garden than in a packed flat."