It didn’t take long for us to have our first Juventus injury of the worry for preseason training. And just like the most notable one that is basically carrying over from the end of the 2025-26 season that had us all wondering how the heck the best player on the roster was going to look when he played in his first World Cup, this is something that has not gone away since Juve’s season-ending draw to Torino in May.
So while Kenan Yildiz’s lingering knee issue will certainly be a topic of discussion
when he returns from his deserved albeit shortened summer vacation after spending a few weeks in North America last month, the first day of Juventus players rolling up to Continassa for training and medical exams revealed something.
More specifically, a thing on Khephren Thuram’s right knee.
That is because the knee issue that hampered Thuram late in the 2025-26 season is still present. And that was evident as Thuram walked out of J Medical after Monday’s checkups with a fairly large wrap on his right knee — a clear sign that the femoro-patellar syndrome is still a thing. Thuram has not been training with the rest of the group at Continassa as manager Luciano Spalletti leads his first preseason in Turin, and it’s unclear when one of Juventus’ most important players will actually join the rest of his teammates as they wait for the small number of World Cup participants to arrive over the next couple of weeks.
Thuram is not expected to take part in the first preseason friendly of the summer on Saturday when Juventus travel to Switzerland to face old friend Stephan Lichtsteiner and FC Basel.
So you have the same knee issue as last season for Yildiz, who only seemed to have more and more tape on his knee as Turkiye’s group stage fixtures went on last month. Now you have Thuram with a knee issue that is also carrying over from the prior season as the new season gets underway.
Good times, ain’t it?
According to Tuttosport, Thuram returned early to Turin to seek treatment at J Medical for the knee issue late last week. Right now, the extent of his preseason preparations involve training in the gym while his teammates are out on the fields at Continassa actually working with their manager and trying to build some match fitness.
The benefit of Thuram not being on the France squad at the World Cup is that he is in Turin from the beginning of preseason training, and as a result Juventus can afford to take it slow. Between now and the season opener against Frosinone on Aug. 23, Spalletti’s squad have a whopping seven friendlies on the schedule. (Although you can probably say it’s more 6 1/2 because we all know the final one, the family match against the Next Gen squad, never actually finishes.)
But if Thuram is still being hampered by a knee issue that hasn’t resolved itself in nearly two months since Juventus last played a competitive match, it’s hard to know when it will actually not longer be an issue. It’s the same when it comes to Yildiz as we all eagerly await his return to see just what kind of treatment — or … gasp … maybe more than that — he will need to try and get his knee back to 100%.
Certainly not what Spalletti wants to be hearing so early in the preseason — and especially in a summer in which so much of this squad is the same from a season ago when the team failed to qualify for the Champions League.
