It didn’t take long for us to have our first Juventus injury concern in pre-season training. And as one of the highlights from the end of the 2025-26 season that made us all wonder what the best player in the line-up would look like when he played in the first World Cup, this is something that has not gone since Juve took on Torino at the end of the season in May.
So while Kenan Yildiz’s ongoing knee issue will be the topic of discussion when he returns from his well-deserved albeit shortened summer holiday after spending a few weeks in North America last month, the first day of the Juventus players who rolled up to Continassa for training and medical tests revealed something.
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Specifically, the item on Khephren Thuram’s right knee.
That’s because the knee issue that bothered Thuram late in the 2025-26 season is still there. And that was evident as Thuram walked out of J Medical after Monday’s test with his right knee properly bandaged – a clear sign that femoro-patellar syndrome is still a thing. Thuram has not been training with the rest of the squad at Continassa as manager Luciano Spalletti leads his first season in Turin, and it is unclear when one of Juventus’ most important players will join up with his teammates as they wait for a small number of World Cup participants to arrive in the next few weeks.
Thuram is not expected to take part in Saturday’s first pre-season friendly when Juventus travel to Switzerland to face old friend Stephan Lichtsteiner and FC Basel.
So he has the same knee problem as last season for Yildiz, who seemed to have a lot more on his knee as the Turkiye team’s matches continued last month. Now you have Thuram with a knee problem that has continued since last season as the new season continues.
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Good times, right?
According to Tuttosport, Thuram returned this morning from Turin to seek medical treatment at J Medical regarding a knee problem late last week. Right now, the level of his pre-season preparations involves training in the gym while his teammates are out on the pitches in Continassa actually working with their manager and trying to build up their game fitness.
The benefit of Thuram’s absence from France’s World Cup squad is that he has been in Turin since the start of pre-season training, and therefore Juventus can take it easy. Between now and the season opener playing against Frosinone on Aug. 23, Spalletti’s team has the best seven friendlies in the program. (Although you might say it’s more than 6 1/2 because we all know the last one, the family game against the Next Gen team, never ends.)
But if Thuram is still hampered by a lingering knee problem nearly two months since Juventus last played a competitive game, it’s hard to know when it will become a problem. It’s the same when it comes to Yildiz as we all eagerly await his return to see what kind of treatment – or … gasp … maybe more – he will need to try and get his knee back to 100%.
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It’s certainly not what Spalletti wants to hear at the start of the season – and especially in the summer when most of this squad is the same as last season when the team failed to qualify for the Champions League.
