Exor denies Il Giornale story saying Agnelli family is ready to sell Juventus

Because of the state of Juventus’ finances and just how sustainable some on the outside looking perceive that to be, rumors about a potential sale by the Agnelli family pop up every now and then. In previous reports of a sale, we’ve normally just laughed it off because we know that even with all of the drama surrounding former Juve president Andrea Agnelli and his sudden exit from the club last winter.

When rumors of a potential sale popped up in May, Juve’s holding company, Exor, was quick to shoot them down and declare that nothing is going to happen.

And when those rumors came about again Monday morning? You guessed it, folks.

Less than a couple of hours after a lengthy story in Italian newspaper Il Giornale was published about the Agnelli family — and in this case John Elkann — putting Juventus up for sale, Exor again was there to shoot things down through a short statement issued in the Italian media. The statement was far from as long as the original story that said Juve was up for sale, but it denied just about everything that story was centered around, saying (via ANSA): “The hypotheses aired by a newspaper on the sale of Juventus are devoid of any foundation.”

When it comes to Il Giornale’s story, the outlet stated that Elkann — the man running the show at Exor and the cousin of Andrea Agnelli — was looking for buyers to take a majority stake in Juventus, with a potential price tag of €1.5 billion being floated out there.

Back in May, Reuters reported that Exor were open to a sale a minority stake in Juventus, with the club’s finances and off-field issues fueling a lot of the potential decision to consider parting ways with the club that has been with the Agnelli family for so long. “Our commitment to Juventus is unchanged and no meetings have taken place,” an Exor spokesperson told Reuters in response to their initial report. “Any suggestion to the contrary is totally without foundation, misleading and intended only to create uncertainty.”

A lot has happened since that report from Reuters, most notably the one-year ban from European competition by UEFA over the summer that also has stipulations for Juventus’ finances being in order to be in line for getting back into the Champions League come the 2024-25 campaign.

Juventus recently celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Agnelli family owning the club, but it comes under the current status of no European competition and a summer transfer window in which cutting salary and trying to get the books back in proper order was the biggest priority for new sporting chief Cristiano Giuntoli. Much of the decision making having to do with forming the new board of directors since Agnelli stepped down in November 2022 amidst the plusvalenza investigation has involved Elkann, the nephew of former Juve president Gianni Agnelli.

Elkann has mostly maintained the same kind of public presence when it comes to Juventus both before and after his cousin resigned as president, only speaking in the media every so often about the state of Juventus.