When reports recently surfaced that football sensation Cristiano Ronaldo was the owner of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire, we were a little skeptical.

After all, these reports surfaced out of nowhere and came after months of talk about the one-off Bugatti being purchased by none other than Ferdinand Piech, the former chairman of the Volkswagen Group. While we still don’t know who the owner of the car is, we do at least know that it is not Ronaldo.

In a statement issued to TMZ, Ronaldo’s spokesperson stated “The story isn’t true. He has not bought it.”

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Taking to Instagram, Bugatti’s head of PR, Tim Bravo, said that despite being repeatedly contacted by media outlets about who the owner of La Voiture Noire, the French automaker cannot comment on rumors and speculation, “even less when customers are involved.”

“We respect their privacy and it’s on them, not on us, to decide if they want to go public or not. So, I can’t deny nor confirm the reports.”

While some may interpret that as a sly way to say that Ronaldo is indeed the owner, we don’t believe that he is.

It is alleged that Bugatti held a secret auction for La Voiture Noire and only allowed its top clientele to bid. While Ronaldo owns both a Veyron and a Chiron, it is reported that Ferdinand Piech was the winning bidder, purchasing the vehicle for an extraordinary €16.7 million ($18.66 million). If Piech is indeed the owner, we may never receive confirmation as Piech is a polarizing figure within the world of Volkswagen. In fact, it was only a couple years ago that the German car manufacturer considered taking legal action against Piech after claiming he had knowledge of dieselgate before it became public.

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