The list of unavailable players keeps growing, and at Juventus there seems to be no peace. Ill fortune is pursuing the Bianconeri, who after dealing with a long series of absences against Fiorentina now lose Pierre Kalulu too. The French defender has been excluded from his national team’s camp because of a muscular problem, another blow for a squad with an increasingly crowded infirmary.
The Injury
As reported by RMC, Kalulu has suffered an injury to the biceps femoris of his left leg, a problem that forces him to cut short his commitments with France. He has been excluded from the camp and will be replaced in the next few hours. There will be no Nations League for him. He will miss the matches against Italy and Turkey.
It is bad news for the French coach, who had already shown him trust in recent months, and for Juventus, who must wait for further updates on his condition to assess the recovery time. Tuttosport’s own estimate is that he should be out for around two to three weeks, but concern is growing at the Continassa.
Eight Absentees Against Fiorentina, and Now Nine
Kalulu’s absence adds to an already complicated picture. Against Fiorentina, Juventus had to do without eight players: Grabara, Cambiaso, Locatelli, Thuram, Nico González, Conceição, Yıldız, as well as Milik, who is now outside the Serie A list. It was an especially heavy list, to which the French defender’s name is now added.
The curse of injuries has persisted since the start of the season. It has also hit other players such as McKennie and Çelik, to cite only the latest ailments. Kalulu had been the Juventus player with the most minutes in the squad, so his loss removes the right-sided option on which Spalletti had planned the Fiorentina line-up.
The One Small Piece of Luck
The one small piece of good fortune for the Bianconeri is the international break. Eleven players will leave for national teams: Vicario, Gatti, Ekhator, Alajbegović, Cabal, Lucumí, Çelik, Koopmeiners, McKennie, Sarr and Zhegrova. That leaves more of the squad at the Continassa than usual, and it will allow those on the sidelines to try to get back into shape to help Spalletti when the tour de force restarts.
It matches what Tuttosport said on Friday when it called the break an opportunity to work with a larger part of the squad. Çelik’s inclusion in that list of eleven is notable, since he had been expected to return only after the break. The roster also now contradicts earlier plans: Brazil left out Douglas Luiz and Bremer, and Germany left out Woltemade.
