MILAN, Nov 30 — John Elkann, the head of Exor which controls Juventus, said today he had faith in the investigators probing suspicious player transfers and potential false accounting at the Serie A club.

"Juventus are helping the prosecutors and are confident they will help shed light on the situation,” Italian media report Elkann as saying.

"As for us at Exor, I have faith in the judiciary. Juve have a new board, a new chief executive (Maurizio Arrivabene), a new sporting director (Federico Cherubini) and a new coach.

"They, together with the chairman (Andrea Agnelli) and vice-chairman (Pavel Nedved), are facing a difficult time as can happen and I’m sure that Juve’s future will be as great as its past.”

Elkann, a scion of the powerful Agnelli family which has owned Juventus almost continuously for nearly 100 years, was speaking at Exor’s "Investor Day”.

Prosectors in Turin are investigating Juve and six current and former directors — including Agnelli and Nedved — for allegedly making false communications to investors and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions.

The probe regards some €282 million (RM1.36 billion) of capital gains declared in accounts from the past three seasons on a host of transfers.

Italian media also report that prosecutors are investigating the possibility that some payments made to former Juve forward Cristiano Ronaldo were not included in the club’s most recent financial results, which were announced in September and recorded a loss of almost €210 million in the year up to June 2021.

Last month the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) launched its own investigation into a series of suspicious transfers, with the majority of the deals under the microscope involving Juve.

On Saturday news agency ANSA reported a source from Italian football’s supervisory commission Covisoc as saying that since autumn last year it has identified dozens of deals that do not just concern Juve — who are listed on the Italian stock exchange. — AFP