Once Khephren Thuram wasn’t included in Juventus’ squad list for the upcoming Europa League league phase, you got a pretty good clue as to how long he will be out with his lingering knee injury.
A day later, we got the expected reason why.
Thuram officially underwent successful surgery on his troublesome right knee, Juventus announced on Thursday. It is the kind of surgery that Thuram, who didn’t appear in any of Juve’s preseason friendlies and was only called up for the season opener against Frosinone
two weeks ago, has been at risk of needing as the knee issue from the springtime never resolved itself as the player and club had hoped. Thuram reported early to J Medical to undergo treatment before preseason training began, then didn’t go on the preseason tour in Hong Kong and Australia due to fitness issues. Now, after the dots have all been essentially connected, Thuram has undergone a procedure that will keep him out of action into 2027.
That means within a week, Juventus have lost two of their most important players — Thuram and Kenan Yildiz — to long-term injuries. Yildiz underwent surgery for a broken bone in his left foot on Monday.
The official statement on Thuram’s injury, courtesy of Juventus’ website:
This morning, Khephren Thuram underwent chondroplasty surgery to treat chondropathy of the patella in his right knee. The procedure, performed by Dr. Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet in the presence of the club’s medical director, Dr. Luca Stefanini, at the Hôpital Privé Jean Mermoz in Lyon, was a complete success, and the player will begin his rehabilitation program tomorrow.
Thuram reportedly tried to get his knee condition improved initially with conservative therapy — which, knowing the knee history of another French midfielder who played for Juventus somewhat recently, probably gives you bad flashbacks when hearing those two words. Clearly that route didn’t go as he or the club’s doctors hoped, with Thursday’s surgery putting a major dent in Juventus’ already much-maligned midfield. (Plus, now the quick move for Pape Matar Sarr on loan from Tottenham makes a lot more sense considering Thuram’s health status.)
Considering how Thuram played for much of the second half of the 2025-26 season as he dealt with his knee issue, this was bound to come to a head in some sort of way. They hoped that somebody not at the World Cup could get the rest — and treatment — he needed for nearly two months between the season finale against Torino and the start of preseason training. But, that knee problem just never went away.
And now we are at the the portion of the timeline in which Thuram is going to be out for what will probably be half of the 2026-27 season. That’s a whole lot of games to miss — and especially for a player who can bring things to the table that some of his other teammates in the midfield can’t.
