Juventus 'announce' Arda Guler transfer in bizarre social media post as fans baffled

Juventus have sparked confusion with an intriguing social media post welcoming Real Madrid star Arda Guler to the club. Their official English X account, followed by more than 3.4million people, uploaded a picture of the 19-year-old having seemingly got off a plane in Italy.

The caption read: “Welcome to Juventus, Arda Guler! The rising star of football is now part of the Juventus family.

“Ready to make history together on this new journey? #WelcomeArda #ForzaJuve

The update left fans stunned and confused, given Guler only arrived at Madrid last year from Fenerbahce. He signed a deal that had been scheduled to last until June 2029, and regardless, would not be able to leave until the January transfer window unless his contract was cancelled.

However, it’s since emerged that the image was taken in July, seemingly when he returned from Euro 2024 in Germany. During the tournament, he became the youngest debutant to find the net at the Euros, striking in the 3-1 win over Georgia.

A host of users then started speculating that the club have had their account tampered with. And that notion was seemingly confirmed by a La Gazzetta dello Sport reporter, who reposted the upload.

“The official English account of Juventus has been hacked,” he wrote, along with a laughter emoji. “The arrival of Arda Guler has been made official.”

Turkish sports journalist Yago Sabuncuoglu added: “The claims that Arda Guler was transferred to Juventus do not reflect the truth.” Sure enough, the hackers themselves then clarified they have been joking.

Indeed, the club’s primary X account, which uses Italian and has over 10m followers, has no posts relating to Guler. It had been active about three hours before the fake revelation, sharing a video of Weston McKennie’s header against Empoli in 2022, under the hashtag #goaloftheday.

Guler is considered one of the rising stars of world football, but thus far has failed to nail down a regular starting place in Madrid. He’s made 23 club appearances since his move 15 months ago, scoring six times.

The star was an unused sub for Saturday’s 2-1 win at Celta Vigo. His lack of game time has prompted speculation Guler may look to move elsewhere in order to prevent his career from stalling.