#2 Gianluigi Buffon – € 52.88m
Trending
Gianluigi ‘Gigi’ Buffon has been a long time servant of Juventus. The Italian captain who has been capped a record 161 times by the Azzurri has been with the Old Lady through thick and thin. It is easy to forget that Buffon did not start out with Juventus.
Having played for Parma since 1994, Buffon became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world when Juventus spent €52.88 million to lure him away from Parma at the beginning of the 2001/02 season.
Buffon has been a dedicated servant of Juventus, having even endured relegation to Serie B and subsequent promotion, as Juventus were penalised for a match-fixing scandal.
Revered by many, he holds almost a god-like status amongst the Juve faithful. Despite a number of opportunities to move to other clubs, especially when Juve were relegated, Buffon chose to stick with Juventus, showing a degree of loyalty very rare in modern day football.
Buffon won the World Cup in 2006, which will no doubt be the highest point in his career. With Juventus becoming the dominant force in Serie A for the past 3 seasons or so, Buffon has been able to get his hands on silverware on a very regular basis.
