The best news to emerge from the Continassa ahead of Thursday’s Europa League opener against NEC Nijmegen is the return to full group training of Weston McKennie — barring any dramatic setback, a near-certain convocation for the first European match of the season after three successive absences. Andrea Cambiaso has also returned alongside him, giving Luciano Spalletti two additional cards in a hand already heavily depleted by injury.
The medical department cannot yet be described as genuinely emptying out. But recovering McKennie and Cambiaso gives Spalletti two more options in a squad whose resources have been stretched to their outer limits — and crucially, the manager has never used the absences as an alibi and will not begin doing so now. What matters, from his perspective, is maintaining the spirit and motivation of those available to him.
McKennie — 43 Champions League Appearances and the Experience Juventus Need
The smile on McKennie’s face in training on Tuesday morning is, as Tuttosport’s Stefano Lanzo writes, genuinely precious to Spalletti. The Texan is one of the most experienced international footballers in the squad — 43 Champions League appearances in his career, with 11 goals — making him a player who knows precisely what European competition demands psychologically and technically. In a squad searching for leadership and personality, his mere presence on the pitch changes the collective dynamic in ways that his statistics alone cannot fully capture.
Whether he starts against NEC or arrives from the bench remains Spalletti’s final decision, taken with one eye already on Sunday’s league match against Atalanta. The manager will weigh the short-term benefit of his starting presence against the medium-term need to manage his physical condition across two crucial fixtures in five days.
The 3-4-2-1 Option — McKennie and Cambiaso as Wing-Backs
The most significant tactical consequence of both returns is the viability of a shift to a 3-4-2-1 — the formation Spalletti has been considering for several weeks as a more defensively balanced alternative to the 4-2-3-1 that left Juventus so exposed against Sassuolo’s counterattacks. With McKennie or Cambiaso operating as a wing-back alongside Çelik on the other flank, the back three is protected by a more disciplined horizontal defensive structure — whilst the two trequartisti behind Kolo Muani retain the creative freedom to express themselves in the final third. Against NEC — a side that typically plays with an open face and does not park ten men behind the ball — the system also allows Juventus to use the width of the pitch more effectively and give their wide attackers the space to operate.
The Absences for Thursday — Kelly Suspended, Zhegrova Not Listed
The complications for the NEC selection are not only injury-related. Lloyd Kelly is suspended for Thursday’s match — serving a ban carried over from last season’s Champions League red card against Galatasaray, which applies to this season’s UEFA competition. His absence means Spalletti must field an alternative at centre-back, with the most likely solution being a back three of Bremer, Lucumí, and Gatti.
Zhegrova — who scored twice from the bench against Sassuolo — is not on the UEFA Europa League squad list and therefore unavailable for the European competition. The club had evaluated the possibility of replacing Boga with Zhegrova given the latter’s form, but Boga’s recovery timetable appears likely to be shorter than the 60 days that would make her replacement on the list automatically applicable.
A list change involving Locatelli is possible — the captain could theoretically be replaced by an Italian-trained player to address the midfield void. The candidates are Ekhator, still injured, and Rugani. Whether the administrative decision is made before Thursday’s match will be clarified at the pre-match press conference this afternoon.
The final piece of news from Tuttosport’s article: Nico González has received his call-up for the Argentina national team — confirming, in the most satisfying possible way, the transformation of a player who arrived back at the Continassa as a departure this summer and will now represent his country before returning to a Juventus that has already offered him a renewal. The summer that ended in the back door has produced a player walking through the front one. Into international football, no less.
