#1 Gianluigi Buffon
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It is of little surprise that perhaps the greatest goalkeeper of this generation, Gianluigi Buffon, still holds the record for the highest transfer fee for any goalkeeper. And, boy, has he paid back on the promise that prompted Juve to splurge over €50 million on a goalkeeper in 2001. After rejecting Barcelona, who have since gone on to win 4 Champions League titles, Buffon still has had the performances to make his Juve move seem the best one possible.
In his time at Juventus, Buffon has 9 Serie A titles in 15 seasons – while 2 of those titles were revoked because of the Calciopoli scandal. He also helped Juventus win 2 Coppa Italia titles that he has won in the past 2 seasons.
Although his 2 appearances in the UEFA Champions League final have been heartbreaks for him and his teams despite their best efforts, Buffon has still enjoyed enough success as Juve’s knight in shining armour, to bail them out of many tight spots. Consistently displaying world-class standards of performance, Buffon has been named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year 9 times during his Juve spell, and 4 times been awarded the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper in the World.
To top it all, he has been even more of a fan favourite ever since he elected not to leave Juventus after their relegation to Serie B following the fallouts of the Calciopoli scandal. He remains one of the best in the world today even at his age of 38. There may not be anything stopping him from one last bow at the 2018 World Cup in Russia for Italy.
