Gianluigi Buffon gave up £8.8 million in the 'biggest mistake of his life'

Gianluigi Buffon has revealed that leaving Paris Saint-Germain was the "biggest mistake" of his life.

At the peak of his powers, Buffon was widely considered one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, famously leading Italy to World Cup glory in 2006.

While he won the Serie A an incredible 10 times with Juventus, and had a brief spell with PSG in between, joining the Ligue One side in 2018 at the age of 40.

But despite being a one-club legend, Buffon has revealed that he loved playing in France and is regretful of the way things ended, moving back to his beloved Juventus after just one season.

"Leaving was the biggest mistake of my life, I gave up €10million (£8.8m)", he told former Italy team-mate Christian Vieri on the ex-striker's Twitch stream.

"They told me that [Alphonse] Areola would play in the Champions League and I didn't accept it. For me, the one who deserves it plays. That's why I returned to Juve.

"Then I regretted it , because Areola was injured and they signed Keylor Navas in his place!"

"[Paris] was the most beautiful experience of my life. I felt like a free man. I quickly learned French, talked to people on the street, visited museums... I had the feeling of playing in a great team."

Buffon also opened up on the biggest disappointment of his career, which happened to be at the hands of Manchester United.

Despite his trophy laden-career, one piece of silverware still evades the 45-year-old, who now plays his football with Parma in the Serie A.

Lining up alongside the likes of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria, Thiago Silva and Dani Alves looked to be Buffon's best chance at winning the Champions League.

However, it wasn't to be, with Marcus Rashford's stoppage time penalty enough to see the Red Devils advance on away goals.

"I was convinced, we were superior," Buffon reflected.

"We went to Manchester to play the first leg of the round of 16 with United and we dominated, but they eliminated us in the second leg.

"That was the biggest disappointment of my career."

Topics: Gianluigi Buffon, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Football, Manchester United

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno