Within less than a week, we’ve come to see two of Juventus’ more important players go down with injuries that have forced them to undergo surgeries. First it was Dusan Vlahovic suffering a serious adductor injury over the weekend, then it was Federico Gatti just three days picking up a meniscus injury in his knee.
The wins in both games were positives, but the injuries put a damper on each of the respective victories.
And now, we have an idea of how long both will likely be out for.
Within a few hours on Thursday, both Gatti and Vlahovic underwent surgery for their respective injuries, Juventus announced. Both surgeries were deemed to be successful, with Gatti having his operation done in Nantes, France, while Vlahovic had his procedure done in London after receiving consultation in England the day before. Both players are described as to begin their respective recovery from surgery in the next day or two once they return to Turin.
But when it comes to recovery time, it breaks down a little bit like this:
If Gatti’s recovery time is as it’s expected to be, that puts him on track to return somewhere in early- or mid-January. However, Vlahovic’s status likely won’t be known until the early days of spring in March. Considering he had been far and away Juventus’ best option in the No. 9 position for both Igor Tudor and now Luciano Spalletti, that’s a tough pill to swallow for a Juve side that is still struggling to score goals on a consistent basis.
With Gatti out injured for the next month, Juventus will continue to be in this razor-thin depth situation for at least another game or two at the very minimum. Daniele Rugani appears to be the next center back to return to full health, with Gleison Bremer back from his own meniscus surgery at some point in mid- to late-December.
When it comes to the striker position, it’s pretty obvious: It’s now time for Juventus to truly see what they have in Jonathan David and Loïs Openda for both the immediate future and down the road. Vlahovic won’t be back until March after surgery, so the onus is on David and Openda to advantage of this opportunity with the big Serbian out and the uptick in playing time as a result of it.