By DPA
Milan : Italy's international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has extended his contract with Juventus to 2012, it was announced by the Turin club.
The signing of a new contract put an end to the rumoured transfer of the 29-year-old world champion as Juventus gear up for their return to the top flight following a relegation handed down in a match-fixing trial.
"It is an important day for me because I wrote a new page in my career and my life," Buffon said Thursday. "It is a rational choice after the one I made last year (after the relegation) and it shows my attachment to this team, the club and the fans who never stopped making me feel their affection.
"The project that Juventus presented is convincing because the club gave itself goals in which I believe and it creates the ground for an ever more stimulating relationship," he added.
Juventus this week signed coach Claudio Ranieri after the departure of Didier Deschamps and have been very active on the transfer market since securing promotion with three games to go despite a nine-point deficit.
They have signed Zdenek Grygera, a Czech defender from Ajax, and Bosnian midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic from Bayern Munich, and appear close to buying international striker Vincenzo Iaquinta from Udinese.