Simone Pepe suffers yet another injury, will miss 15 to 20 days with a thigh strain

If Simone Pepe hasn't looked towards the sky and yelled "WHY?!?!?!?!" towards the heavens yet, I get the feeling that he's awfully close to actually doing so. Oh so very close.

After dealing with one injury after another for the entire 2012-13 Serie A campaign, the Juventus winger is looking at another injury-related spell on the sidelines instead of being at the disposal of manager Antonio Conte. It may not be out for months on end like the last couple of injuries he's dealt with, but the 30-year-old Pepe has suffered a strain in his left thigh and will miss up to three weeks, the club announced on Wednesday.

From Juventus' official website:

Simone Pepe's recent left-thigh complaint in his semimembranosus muscle, the area which was operated on earlier this year on 27 February, has been confirmed as a muscular strain close to the post-operative scar tissue.

Given the complexity of the recovery process that he has undergone in the past for a similar problem, he will now take at least 15 to 20 days of rest and physiotherapy treatment.

Ugh.

It's hard not to feel absolutely gutted for the guy considering all that he's dealt with the past 12 months. His appearance with the Juve primavera squad a few weeks back was supposed to be the moment that signaled he was close to being back with the senior squad on a full-time basis. It was even that much bigger of a deal when you consider how he seemed to have a setback every time he looked like he was just about done with his rehab over the course of the previous calendar year.

Now, it's only a matter of time before Pepe — who managed just 22 minutes on the field last season — is headed back to the training room for even more rehab.