Juventus have confirmed that Stephan Lichtsteiner has renewed his contract at the club until 2018.
The Swiss defender had been expected to leave the club at the end of the season following speculation last summer that the player had pushed for a move to Inter Milan.
Lichtsteiner had initially been dropped from the squad from the Champions League group stages but has now been included in the official list for the 2nd phase of the competition.
The Bianconeri confirmed the renewal in a statement via the clubs official website:
Juventus Football is pleased to announce that wing-back Stephan Lichtsteiner has renewed his Juventus contract until 30 June 2018 in a deal that will extend his black and white journey into at least its seventh year.
Lichtsteiner’s contributions over the past five and a half seasons have irrevocably rewritten the club’s history books, the Swiss defender one of six current Juve stars to have played a part in every one of the Old Lady’s five consecutive league titles.
The full-back has put in some much improved performances in recent weeks following a change in tactics and the injury to Dani Alves which has seen him return to the starting XI on a regular basis.
Image from Juventus.com
Fantastic to have him confirmed for another year. Excellent player, unrelenting fighter, a real boss on the pitch. He will be 34-35 when the contract expires if I’m not mistaken.
It seems reasonable for him to retire at Juve, if he wants to.
Great news! After giving his everything in last 5 seasons, I guess club has been a bit harsh to him, he made some mistakes as well, hopefully now it’s all distant memory!
Agreed, whatever the bother was, I hope it is all resolved. He’ll have had 7 seasons at Juve, I would hate to see him leave unhappy.
Which is still the thing that bothers me most about our managers, the way they let Del Piero leave was undignified, I hope it won’t happen again to such iconic players
I don’t see any mistake made my Stephan. He had good reason to hold off on signing the extension given the way he was knocked down to third in the pecking order for the RWB role without a competitive game been played, and avoided for the CL squad. If Alves hadn’t been injured we would be saying goodbye to Stephan probably already in the January window. For he remains a top drawer fullback and wants to play football. I did not like how we treated him earlier this season. It was a lack of respect to a player who has been a huge part of our recent success. Glad he has chosen to stay. And hopefully it means Alves is out in the Summer and De Sciglio is coming in!
Goes to show what getting your head down and getting on with things quietly and without fuss can bring about. Many young players could learn a thing or two from him.