Juventus have confirmed that Matthijs de Ligt has undergone surgery on his shoulder and he now faces a three-month recovery period.
The 21-year-old joined the Turin giants from Ajax last summer and went on to make 39 appearances in his debut campaign with the reigning Serie A champions.
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Having established himself as a key figure in the heart of their backline, it will be a blow for new coach Andrea Pirlo that he will have to make do without him to start the new season.
As noted on the club’s official site, the surgery was considered a ‘complete success’ which is a boost for all concerned, but ultimately it’s added that the Netherlands international will now need three months to fully recover.
With the new Serie A season expected to start in late September, it will mean that he misses the opening month or so of the campaign, and so Pirlo will have to find a solution to that particular problem as a priority when he joins up with the squad.
With Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele Rugani and Merih Demiral at his disposal as things stand, the Juventus boss will arguably have enough to cope but he’ll undoubtedly hope that De Ligt is able to stick to that touted recovery timeline and comes through without suffering any further setbacks in his rehabilitation.
The Dutchman was bothered by the problem after dislocating his shoulder earlier in the campaign, and so given the ongoing issue, it was perhaps the sensible solution to now undergo a procedure to avoid further problems down the line.
Successful surgery for @mdeligt_04.
— JuventusFC (#Stron9er ?????????) (@juventusfcen) August 12, 2020