Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri has been hit with an injury setback after it was confirmed that midfield stalwart Sami Khedira is set to undergo an operation.
The 32-year-old has made 17 appearances so far this season as he has established himself as a key figure in the squad for the Italian tactician.
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Unfortunately for the Turin giants though, they may well have to make do without him for the time being as they have noted in an official medical update on Tuesday that the experienced German ace will undergo relatively minor surgery on his knee.
“Due to the persistence of discomfort in the left knee endured in recent days, Sami Khedira will undergo arthroscopic cleaning tomorrow, to be performed by Professor Ulrich Boenisch in Augsburg, Germany,” the club statement read.
As per Sky Sport Italia, Khedira could be sidelined for around a month and so it’s an unwanted blow for the reigning Serie A champions ahead of a busy few weeks prior to the winter break.
The Bianconeri face Lazio, Bayer Leverkusen, Udinese, Sampdoria and Lazio again on December 22 in for the Italian Super Cup, and so they’ll be hoping that Khedira will be available for selection at some point towards the end of that run of games if he can return ahead of the touted recovery timeline above.
After being held by Sassuolo at the weekend and seeing rivals Inter win, Antonio Conte’s men have now leapfrogged Juventus into top spot in the Serie A table after 14 games.
In turn, the last thing that they needed was to suffer an injury blow but that’s exactly what they’ve been dealt this week with question marks now hanging over Khedira’s availability in the coming weeks.
The report above does add though that Juventus could get a timely boost as Adrien Rabiot is back in training, and so he could be an alternative option in midfield for Sarri if Khedira is sidelined.