Gianluigi Buffon has returned to Parma after 20 years. Ciro Santangelo/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Gianluigi Buffon has returned to Parma on a free transfer 20 years after leaving the club to join Juventus, it was announced on Thursday.
The 43-year-old goalkeeper left Juve at the end of the last campaign, where he had been for two decades, either side of a 12-month spell at Paris Saint-Germain in 2018-19.
Parma's U.S. owner Kyle Krause had teased Buffon's return on Wednesday with a tweet which read: "it's a bird it's a plane it's" -- in reference to the ex-Italy international's Superman t-shirt he wore during the club's 1999 Coppa Italia celebrations during his first spell.
He is back where he belongs.
He is back home.#SupermanReturns ???@gianluigibuffon @Kyle_J_Krause @ParmaCalcio_en pic.twitter.com/bh2FO6P8YXAdvertisement— Parma Calcio 1913 (@1913parmacalcio) June 17, 2021
Parma tweeted the announcement with a video of a man in a black hooded jumper, walking on to the club's home pitch to dig up an old treasure chest with a Superman t-shirt and Parma jersey, before Buffon revealed himself and said: "I'm back."
Source: espn.co.uk