Arsenal cannot get Julián Álvarez — and that, in a roundabout way, is the reason Juventus supporters woke up on Tuesday morning with a familiar knot in the stomach. With the Argentine remaining at Manchester City, the Gunners are recalibrating their attacking options and the name of Kenan Yıldız has resurfaced at the top of their list. Mikel Arteta is known to admire the Turkish international deeply, and reports from the English press suggest a formal approach — potentially backed by a figure approaching €100 million — could be forthcoming in the coming days.
This is the moment at which Tuttosport’s Mauro Munno draws the most important distinction of the entire article: yes, the interest is real and the offer would be substantial. No, Juventus have not for a single second wavered on their position. Yıldız is not for sale.
Why Yıldız Cannot Be Bought — at Any Price
The reasoning goes well beyond the purely financial. Yıldız is the number ten of Juventus in its fullest institutional sense — the inheritor of a shirt that carries the weight of Platini, Roberto Baggio, and Del Piero, and the first player in a generation who has demonstrated the qualities required to wear it with genuine authority. He is the living proof of the club’s youth development system working as it should. He is the face of Juventus to sponsors, to global supporters, and to the generation of young football followers the club is trying to reconnect with. Selling him to Arsenal — on the eve of a season the new administration has been building towards for three months — would be an institutional contradiction so severe as to be impossible to contemplate.
John Elkann made the club’s position explicit in his most recent letter to Exor shareholders, framing the renewal of Yıldız’s contract to 2030 at €7 million per year — with a loyalty bonus at signing — not in the language of financial prudence but in the language of institutional identity: “At the beginning of 2026, Juventus extended the contract of next-generation talent Kenan Yıldız until 2030, reaffirming our commitment to the development and retention of the club’s most promising talents. This approach reflects our unwavering confidence in Juventus.” These are words that go beyond transfer market rhetoric. They are a manifesto.
The Coexistence with Alajbegovic — Not a Problem, a Project
One dimension of the Arsenal story that has generated commentary concerns whether Alajbegovic’s arrival — occupying broadly adjacent territory on the attacking left — represents preparation for Yıldız’s sale. Tuttosport addresses this interpretation directly and dismisses it: Spalletti is already working on a system that accommodates both players simultaneously in the same starting eleven. The Bosnian teenager and the Turkish number ten “speak the same language on the pitch but don’t say the same things” — their respective profiles complementary rather than duplicative in the hands of a manager who has consistently demonstrated the tactical imagination to make such combinations work.
What Would Change Juventus’s Mind
There is one scenario, and only one, in which Juventus would reconsider. Yıldız himself has never shown any desire to leave. “For me this club is like a family. I am absolutely convinced that we will do beautiful things together. I love Juventus” — these were his words six months ago, delivered with the sincerity of a player who means everything he says. Only an explicit personal request from Yıldız to depart would force the club to reopen a conversation it has closed multiple times this summer. That request has never come. As of this morning, on the final day before the competitive season begins, it remains as distant as it has ever been.
