Kenan Yildiz to have surgery on broken foot, set to miss around three months

Bad news for Juventus just as the team was trying to right the ship. Kenan Yildiz will go under the knife after it was confirmed he suffered an injury to the fifth metatarsal of his left foot, and according to early estimates, he could be sidelined for roughly three months.

The Turkish forward, who wears the number 10 and is one of the most important pieces in the Bianconeri attack, will now miss a large chunk of a packed stretch of fixtures, right when Luciano Spalletti needed his best players to stabilize a tricky start to the season.

Confirmation came from Giorgio Chiellini, now Juventus' Head of Club Affairs, who addressed the matter on Sky Sport following the Europa League draw. The former defender didn't hide his concern, but urged calm about the player's future:

He's had this misfortune with the metatarsal, he'll need surgery and he'll be back in a few months.Giorgio Chiellini

Luckily it's an injury that will keep him off the field, but it won't threaten his career.Giorgio Chiellini

That last point matters. A fracture of this kind, properly treated, doesn't usually leave long term effects, though it does require a demanding recovery process: surgery, rest, gradual weight bearing and rehab before returning to the pitch at full strength.

A tough gap to fill

Yildiz had become Juventus' go to attacking option, the player Spalletti turned to for creating imbalance between the lines. His absence leaves the Italian coach with the job of splitting minutes among other squad options, with names like Kerim Alajbegović and Jérémie Boga as the main candidates to fill that role up front.

Neither has quite the same profile as the Turkish forward, so the challenge for the coaching staff will be finding tactical wrinkles that don't lean so heavily on the individual creativity Yildiz provided in the final third.

For now, the club hasn't set an exact return date. Early projections point to a window of between two and a half and three months, though it will all depend on how the surgery goes and the timeline set by rehab. It's news that lands at the worst possible moment for Juventus.