Juventus Captain Locatelli Faces Surgery and Three-Month Layoff
Juventus have been dealt a brutal blow with captain Manuel Locatelli set for knee surgery and a lengthy spell on the sidelines after Sunday’s bruising draw with AC Milan at the Allianz Stadium.
The 28-year-old came off with discomfort in his knee and underwent detailed tests after the match. The scans confirmed what the club’s medical staff feared most: a significant lesion to the external meniscus that cannot be managed conservatively.
Juventus have chosen the more complex route. Rather than trimming the damaged tissue, the club will proceed with a meniscus suture, a repair that offers greater protection for Locatelli’s long-term career but comes at a steep short-term cost. Recovery time: at least three months, according to Tuttosport.
That timeline effectively rules Locatelli out until the winter break. For a side already running on fumes in midfield, the timing could hardly be worse.
Midfield stretched to breaking point
Locatelli’s absence rips another key piece out of a department already ravaged by setbacks. Juventus are still coming to terms with the long-term loss of Khephren Thuram, who has undergone surgery to resolve a femoro-patellar syndrome. His return is not expected before 2027, a staggering timescale that leaves a gaping hole in the middle of the pitch.
Locatelli had been one of the players asked to shoulder that burden, knitting play together and adding leadership in a sector short on both. Now he joins the casualty list.
The problems do not stop there. Weston McKennie, the United States international, has missed the last two matches due to persistent muscular fatigue, another body unavailable when Juventus can least afford it. Summer signing Pape Sarr, recruited from Tottenham Hotspur, has barely featured; he arrived with a minor muscular issue and without a proper pre-season, leaving him short of the rhythm and conditioning needed to walk straight into the starting XI.
The result is a midfield stripped of continuity, chemistry, and seniority at the very moment the fixture list begins to tighten.
Injuries bite across the pitch
The crisis is not confined to the centre of the park. Up front, the absence of Kenan Yildiz continues to weigh heavily. The young forward is still recovering from foot surgery and is not expected back until after the November international break.
His creativity and unpredictability in the final third have been badly missed. Recent draws have laid that bare, with Juventus struggling to unpick organised defensive blocks in Serie A. Without Yildiz between the lines and Locatelli orchestrating from deep, the team loses both its spark and its metronome.
At the back, the depth is also being tested. Jeff Ekhator and Juan Cabal remain out and are each expected to miss around another month of action as they work through their respective recoveries. Andrea Cambiaso is dealing with a minor ankle sprain; there is cautious optimism he will return sooner than the others, but for now he too sits on the list of doubts.
Every line of the team has been hit. Every solution seems to create another problem.
Spalletti turns to youth as Juventus Next Gen steps up
With senior options evaporating, Luciano Spalletti has little choice but to look down the ladder. The Juventus Next Gen squad, competing in the lower tiers of Italian football, is set to become a lifeline rather than a luxury.
Several youngsters are expected to be drafted into first-team training and matchday squads in the coming weeks as the club scrambles to plug gaps and maintain intensity. Among the names drawing the most attention inside the club is Augusto Owusu, a standout for the reserve side whose performances have impressed scouts and technical staff alike.
He may soon find himself thrust into a stage few expected this early.
Juventus now face a critical stretch of the season with their captain in the treatment room, their midfield threadbare, and their attacking spark dimmed. The question is no longer whether this squad can rotate; it is whether it can simply hold together until reinforcements return.
