Juventus Faces Injury Crisis as Locatelli Undergoes Surgery
Juventus have been dealt a brutal blow. Captain Manuel Locatelli will be out until at least the winter break after tests confirmed a serious knee injury that requires surgery.
The midfielder picked up the problem in Sunday’s tense draw with AC Milan at the Allianz Stadium, initially feeling “discomfort” in his knee. The club’s medical staff feared the worst. They were right.
Examinations revealed a significant lesion to the external meniscus, forcing Juventus into a decisive choice: repair, not removal. The club have opted for a meniscus suture, a more complex operation but one that better protects the joint and the player’s long-term career.
It comes at a cost. Recovery time is estimated at a minimum of three months, ruling the 28-year-old out of all action until the season pauses in winter. For a side already stretched thin in midfield, the timing could hardly be more damaging.
Midfield stretched to breaking point
Locatelli’s absence rips another hole in a department already in crisis. Juventus are still without Khephren Thuram, sidelined by surgery for a femoro-patellar syndrome. His prognosis is bleak: no competitive football expected until 2027. Thuram was supposed to be a cornerstone of the new project. Instead, his long-term lay-off has forced Locatelli to carry extra responsibility at the heart of the team.
Now he is gone too.
The strain on the remaining midfielders is obvious. Weston McKennie has already missed the last two games with persistent muscular fatigue, his body rebelling against the workload. New signing Pape Sarr, brought in from Tottenham Hotspur to add energy and drive, has barely had the chance to start. He arrived with a minor muscular issue and without a proper pre-season, leaving him short of the rhythm and conditioning needed to step straight into the starting XI.
What was once a carefully balanced unit has become a patchwork, held together by whoever is fit enough to play.
Yildiz out, attack blunted
The problems do not stop in midfield. Up front, Juventus are still without one of their brightest talents. Kenan Yildiz remains a long-term absentee following foot surgery, with his return pencilled in only after the November international break.
His absence has already dulled the attack. Yildiz’s ability to drift between the lines, to create something out of nothing in the final third, has been sorely missed in recent draws. Without him, Juventus have struggled to unlock compact Serie A defences. Removing Locatelli’s distribution from deep only makes that task harder. The side is losing both the man who starts moves and one of the key players who finishes them.
Defence feeling the strain
At the back, the situation is hardly more reassuring. Jeff Ekhator and Juan Cabal are both in the treatment room, each expected to be out for around another month. Their absence chips away at the defensive depth and limits rotation in a schedule that will only get more congested.
There is at least a glimmer of better news with Andrea Cambiaso. The Italian international is nursing a minor ankle sprain, and there is cautious optimism that he will return sooner than the others. But for now, even the defensive line is operating under a cloud.
Spalletti turns to youth
With senior options evaporating across the pitch, Luciano Spalletti is being pushed toward a solution Juventus have often talked about but rarely fully embraced: trust in the academy.
The Juventus Next Gen squad, competing in the lower tiers of Italian football, is set to become a lifeline. Several youngsters are expected to be drafted into first-team training and, increasingly, into matchday squads.
One name keeps coming up in internal discussions: Augusto Owusu. The youngster has impressed scouts and coaches with his performances for the reserve side, showing the personality and technical quality required to at least stake a claim.
For Spalletti, this is no longer a theoretical pathway or a long-term plan. With Locatelli out, Thuram sidelined for years, McKennie managing his fitness and Sarr still catching up, the academy is about to become a very real part of Juventus’ present.
The question now is simple: can a squad patched together from youth and weary senior legs survive the coming months, or will this injury storm reshape the club’s entire season?
