Man City shook hands with legendary player over £400,000-a-week contract before he performed major U-turn

Manchester City came close to signing Italy and Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon after agreeing a contract worth £400,000 a week only for the goalkeeper to turn the move down, it has been revealed.

Buffon is a legend of the game and is arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all-time.

The now retired stopper is best remembered for his long service at Juventus, whom he represented for almost 20 years across two stints between 2001 and 2021, except for one season which he spent at Paris-Saint Germain.

Buffon made nearly 700 appearances for La Vecchia Signora and won 10 Serie A titles during his time in Turin.

Buffon also holds the appearance record for Italy with 176 caps for Gli Azzurri, being part of the squad which won the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the nation's fourth crown.

Buffon hung up his gloves only last year at the age of 45, following a two-year spell back at Parma, the club which he began his career with and from where he made a €52.9m move to Juventus from back in 2001.

It has now emerged that in the early days of City's ownership under Abu Dhabi United Group, Buffon came close to moving to the blue half of Manchester only to turn the transfer down at the last minute.

Gianluigi Buffon. (Image: Getty)

Mark Bowen, Mark Hughes' assistant manager, has recalled how he, Hughes and then City chief executive Garry Cook flew to Turin in a bid to tempt Buffon to the Premier League club.

And even though a deal worth around £400,000 a week was agreed in a meeting with Buffon and his agent, by the time the trio had returned to Manchester, they received the news that the goalkeeper had opted to turn down the move to stay loyal to his boyhood club.

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, Bowen said: "We actually flew by private jet to Turin to speak to Buffon. Garry Cook, Mark and myself.

"The plane lands, Buffon comes in with his agent. We sat down, Garry offered him I think it's around about 400 grand a week.

"We shook hands on everything. Literally an hour later, we jumped back on the plane from Turin to fly back.

"We got off the plane and as we get into the terminal, Garry Cook's looked at his phone and he's gone 'Jesus Christ'.

"What's that Garry? He said 'the player's turned around and said no, he thought about it. Sorry. I can't move, this is my club, my boyhood club. I'm staying here.'

"We're thinking, right so we've just flown six hours - three there, three back - we've offered him 400 grand. He shook hands on the deal and by the time we got off the plane he's gone 'I'm not coming'.

"Mark [Hughes] is looking at me going 'this is madness'."