May 17, (THEWILL) – Italian football icon, Leonardo Bonucci, has officially declared that he will hang up his boots at the conclusion of the 2023/2024 season.
The revered centre-back’s existing contract with Juventus is set to expire in June 2024, and he has now confirmed that he will retire from the sport at that time. He recently achieved a remarkable milestone, marking his 500th appearance for Juventus in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semi-final against Sevilla.
With 12 seasons spent in Turin across two stints, he joins an exclusive group of players, who have reached this impressive tally at the club, including Giuseppe Furino, Gaetano Scirea, Giorgio Chiellini, Gianluigi Buffon, and Alessandro Del Piero. In an interview on Juve’s official YouTube channel, Bonucci shared his thoughts on the future and his place in the history of Italian defence.
He stated: “When I stop playing next year, it will be the end of a defensive era – a way of defending Italian style. It’s a source of pride to be up there with the greatest. I hope lots of future defenders will see us as idols – just as we did with [Franco] Baresi, [Alessandro] Nesta, [Paolo] Maldini, and [Fabio] Cannavaro. It would mean we have achieved a lot and given the game a lot.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
