Nine figures is the number Corriere dello Sport reports Juventus would demand if their hand is forced on Kenan Yildiz, with the Serie A club’s position otherwise unchanged: he is not for sale, and the project is being built around him.
Arsenal, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are the three clubs tracking the 21-year-old Turkey international, according to the same reporting. None of them is expected to test the price tag in January; the realistic window, if there is one, is next summer.
Juventus’s leverage is a contract that runs until 2030, extended in February, and a head coach who has publicly dismissed every offer scenario. Luciano Spalletti was blunt in an August press conference reported by Football Italia.
“They can offer whatever they like, I want Yildiz here and will always put him on the field,” Spalletti said.
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“His future is already important staying at Juventus, not because there are other clubs who want to spend €100m for him.”
Champions League qualification is the trigger
The caveat Italian outlets keep returning to is Champions League qualification. Juventus missed out on the top four last season, and reporting suggests Yildiz himself could reconsider his future if that happens a second time running.
That is why the three suitors are watching rather than bidding. Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta and manager Mikel Arteta already made a formal approach in July, Turkish Football reported via TEAMtalk, and were told €100m would be the minimum. The club turned to other targets and did not land a new left winger over the summer.
Real Madrid are the newer name in the chase. Corriere dello Sport describe them as positioned to one day replace Vinicius Junior on that flank, although they spent heavily in the summer on Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig. Bayern Munich, where Yildiz spent a decade in the youth setup before leaving in 2022, have joined the monitoring list.
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Injured since matchday one
The practical complication is that Yildiz has not played competitively since the opening weekend of the 2026-27 Serie A season. He fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot against Frosinone and surgery was deemed “difficult to avoid” by Juventus’s medical staff shortly afterwards, with La Gazzetta dello Sport putting a late-November return in play.
Last season he produced 11 goals and 10 assists across 47 appearances for Juventus. That return, more than the chorus of transfer talk, is the reason the Serie A club have set their price so high.
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