Juventus Faces Injury Crisis as Locatelli Undergoes Surgery

Manuel Locatelli’s season has been abruptly halted, and with it a large part of Juventus’ midfield balance.

The captain damaged his knee in Sunday’s bruising draw with AC Milan at the Allianz Stadium, limping through the final minutes of a match that already felt like a test of endurance. The real blow arrived after the final whistle. Extensive post-match checks confirmed a significant lesion to the external meniscus in his knee, serious enough to demand immediate surgical intervention.

Juventus have chosen the hard road, not the quick fix. Club doctors, as reported by Tuttosport, favour a meniscus suture rather than trimming or removing the damaged tissue. It is the more robust, career-conscious option, but it comes with a heavy price: at least three months on the sidelines. Locatelli is effectively out until the winter break, his influence erased from Max Allegri’s plans just as the season begins to tighten.

For a normal squad, it would be a serious problem. For this Juventus, already stretched to breaking point in midfield, it borders on disastrous.

Midfield stripped bare

The club has been living with a long-term void ever since Khephren Thuram was ruled out. The Frenchman underwent surgery to correct a femoro-patellar syndrome and is not expected back before 2027. His absence had pushed Locatelli into an even more central role, both tactically and symbolically. Now that safety net has gone.

The dominoes keep falling. Weston McKennie, one of the few players capable of covering multiple roles and injecting energy between the lines, has missed the last two matches with persistent muscular fatigue. The staff are wary of rushing him back and turning a short-term issue into a chronic one.

Pape Sarr, signed in the summer from Tottenham Hotspur to add legs and dynamism, has barely had the chance to start. He arrived carrying a minor muscular problem and, without a proper pre-season, has not yet been able to slot into the starting XI with any continuity. On paper he is a solution. On the pitch, he is still a question mark.

So Allegri loses his organiser, his captain, in a department already patched together week by week.

Creativity drained at both ends of the pitch

The damage is not confined to the centre of the park. Up front, Kenan Yildiz remains a long-term absentee after foot surgery, with his return pencilled in for after the November international break. His absence has already dulled Juventus’ edge in the final third. Yildiz’s ability to unlock tight games with a flash of skill or a clever pass has been missed in recent draws, where the team have struggled to unpick compact Serie A defences.

Now remove Locatelli’s distribution from deep as well. The man who often sets the tempo, who drops between the centre-backs to start moves and finds the first vertical pass, will be watching from the stands. Without him and Yildiz, Juventus lose both the spark at the end of the move and the brain at the beginning of it.

Defence under strain too

The injury list stretches all the way to the back line. Jeff Ekhator and Juan Cabal are both out and expected to miss around another month as they work their way back from their respective problems. Their absence chips away at Allegri’s defensive rotation, forcing heavy minutes on those still standing.

There is at least a sliver of optimism with Andrea Cambiaso. The Italian international is dealing with a minor ankle sprain, and the club hope to have him back sooner than the others. Even so, every knock now feels heavier in a squad already operating on the edge.

Spalletti turns to youth as Juventus Next Gen waits in the wings

With senior options dwindling, the club has little choice but to look down the ladder. Luciano Spalletti is increasingly expected to lean on the Juventus Next Gen setup, the reserve side that competes in the lower tiers of Italian football, to bolster first-team training and flesh out matchday squads.

Among the names circulating in internal discussions, one stands out: Augusto Owusu. The youngster has impressed scouts and coaches with his performances for the second team and now finds a door opening far earlier than anyone anticipated.

This is the new reality for Juventus: a captain in the treatment room, a midfield in pieces, a forward line robbed of its brightest young creator, and a defence creaking under strain. The club has chosen the long-term health of Locatelli’s knee over a quick return.

The question now is whether the rest of this patched-together squad can hold the line until he is back to lead it again.