Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu is edging closer to recovery, but will he be able to immediately retain his starting spot?
Although he was arguably the club’s least exciting summer signing, the Frenchman rapidly proved the naysayers wrong with his solid displays at the back. The 24-year-old was acquired from Milan to play either as a right-back or a centre-back, but since Gleison Brerem’s season-ending injury in October, he has been exclusively playing at the heart of the backline.
The Lyon youth product struck a swift understanding with Federico Gatti, even though Bremer’s terrific displays were still missed at times. But after playing almost non-stop since October, Kalulu succumbed to injury in the first minutes of the Champions League group-stage contest against Benfica at the end of January, leaving Thiago Motta with more headaches at the back.
According to Tuttosport via JuventusNews24, the French defender is targeting a return by the start of March. Hence, he will try to be available for the Serie A contest against Hellas Verona on March 2nd.
In this case, Kalulu would miss another three Juventus fixtures: Wednesday’s decisive second leg against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round, next weekend’s Serie A game versus Cagliari and the Coppa Italia quarter-final against Empoli on February 26th.
Nevertheless, the question that poses itself is whether Motta will be looking to immediately reestablish Kalulu as a regular starter or keep him on the bench for a while in favour of the newly flourishing partnership of Gatti and Renato Veiga.
Swiftly following his transfer from Chelsea, the 21-year-old Portuguese picked up the baton when Kalulu injured himself, and is now making a solid case for a permanent starting role.
However, Motta and the club would bear in mind that Kalulu’s future will certainly lie in Turin thanks to an option-to-buy clause in their agreement Milan, unlike Veiga whose future remains unclear as he only joined on a dry loan. Nevertheless, the Bianconeri will reportedly try to negotiate a deal with the Blues to keep the youngster at Continassa beyond the current campaign.
