Juventus have confirmed captain Giorgio Chiellini has suffered an ACL injury to his right knee and will undergo surgery in the coming days.
Chiellini sustained the injury in training and is now set to spend the next seven months on the sidelines recovering.
The 35-year-old was expected to start in Saturday’s league clash with rivals Napoli but will now be replaced in the team by summer signing Matthijs de Ligt.
“During today’s training, Giorgio Chiellini sustained a sprain of his right knee,” a statement read on the club’s official website.
“The diagnostic tests performed at Medical showed a lesion of the anterior cruciate ligament. It will be necessary to have surgery in the coming days.”
Juventus beat a number of Europe’s top clubs to sign Ajax captain De Ligt over the summer and the Netherlands international conceded he was surprised to be benched in their league opener.
Maurizio Sarri instead opted to pair Leonardo Bonucci and Chiellini in a 1-0 win over Parma but De Ligt will make his competitive debut for the Old Lady this weekend.
Chiellini was the WhoScored Man of the Match in Juventus’ season-opener after scoring the winning goal away to Parma (8.24 rating).
The veteran centre-back has started at least 20 league matches in each of the last 10 seasons but that run will now come to an end.
