Italy's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has announced he will stay at Juventus next season, the player's agent said on Wednesday. "Gigi is going to stay at Juventus. This is the decision he has taken. He's prepared to play in Serie B," Silvano Martina said as reported by Football Italia. "He's never won the Serie B title and now he wants to try,” added Martina. It had been widely believed that the world-class goalkeeper would leave the club after it was relegated to Serie B and docked 30 points in the wake of a match-fixing scandal. The 28-year-old custodian has been a hot item in the international grab for Italy's players; however his reluctance to move abroad has kept many of the wolves at bay for Juventus. Still, there was some local interest, with Roma bidding to take him out on loan, an offer Juventus turned down. "There was a bid from Roma to take him on loan but Juve didn't consider it," Martina said. "The club said what any club would have – Buffon is an international and they could sell him for a vast fee, there's no reason to loan him." Buffon's decision to stay must be a confidence boost for the fallen Italian giants who've already lost Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro and Brazilian midfielder Emerson to Real Madrid.
