Leonardo Bonucci confirms retirement plans
Juventus and Italy legend Leonardo Bonucci has confirmed he will retire from football at the end of the 2023/24 season.
The centre-back's current contract at Juventus is due to expire in June 2024, and Bonucci has now confirmed he will call time on his storied career once it does.
Bonucci recently reached the 500 game milestone at Juve in the Europa League semi-final first leg draw with Sevilla last Thursday. Having spent 12 seasons in Turin across two spells, he became only the sixth player ever to reach that appearance tally at the club - alongside Guseppe Furino, Gaetano Scirea, Giorgio Chiellini, Gianluigi Buffon and Alessandro Del Piero.
Speaking on the Juve's official YouTube channel about his future, Bonucci revealed: "When I stop playing next year, it will be the end of a defensive era - a way of defending Italian style.
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"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."
The defender won an astonishing eight Serie A titles and four Coppa Italia during his time with La Vecchia Signora, and in his retirement announcement he was keen to say that playing for the club was a dream come true.
"Everything I've done has been for a shirt that for me is like a second skin," he explained. "There's still a little boy inside who is so happy to wear this shirt and take to the field in it because it was his dream - a dream come true."