Locatelli Joins List of Juventus Stars on the Mend | OneFootball

Juventus have suffered two further blows in their awful start from an injury standpoint, as Manuel Locatelli has been diagnosed with a meniscus tear following the Milan clash. He underwent surgery to suture it in Lyon, and he’ll be sidelined for five to six months, Corriere dello Sport relays.

The specialist opted to repair it rather than remove it, which will prolong the timetable but avoid further problems to the joint down the line. The Bianconeri also lost Jeremie Boga to a medium-grade thigh strain, which will shelve him for more than a month.

In addition to Locatelli, Juventus won’t have Kenan Yildiz and Khephren Thuram for a few months. Jeff Ekhator and Juan Cabal are dealing with pretty serious muscular problems as well. Weston McKennie, Andrea Cambiaso, and Pape Sarr missed the Milan tilt due to ailments. It’s not yet known whether they’ll be available for the next round.

The Old Lady excluded Arkadiusz Milik from their Serie A list. They would need to oust another foreigner, likely Edon Zhegrova, to bring in a free agent, for instance, Marcelo Brozovic. They have room only for a player who grew up in Italy. Luciano Spalletti will lean on Douglas Luiz and Teun Koopmeiners at the position. Youngster Augusto Owusu got plenty of run with the first team during the summer.

Our Take on Juventus and Locatelli

It’s easy to forget injuries when evaluating a whole season, but not having three linchpins already significantly dampens their ambitions. Numerically, they’ll be okay once McKennie and Sarr return, but they’ll have to field a pretty aggressive version of their 4-2-3-1 consistently. It wouldn’t be surprising if they switched to a three-man defense, as they are in better shape there.