Juventus defender Benedikt Howedes ruled out until the new year due to injury

I remember being excited about the simple fact that Benedikt Howedes finally got to play for the first time all season last weekend against Crotone. I was even more excited after the win over Crotone based on how good Howedes looked over the course of his first-ever Juventus appearance.

Then a new week happened.

And so did a new Howedes injury.

All of a week after he made his Juventus debut, Howedes is back on the injury list. This time, the German defender has torn a muscle in his right thigh and will likely be out until January at the very least. We know this because Juventus’ official website told us so after Saturday’s training session on a frigid morning in Vinovo.

Benedikt Howedes has sustained a tear to the rectus femoris muscle in his right thigh and is expected to be out of action for a prolonged period with a possible return date no earlier than the winter break. This timeframe will be better established over the coming weeks.

The fact that they’re saying Howedes will be back “no earlier than the winter break” is absolutely depressing. That’s because just when he was back in the game, now he’s suddenly yanked out of it for at least another month, meaning he will have played all of 90 minutes in the first half of the 2017-18 season.

That’s not good.

We waited nearly three months to see Howedes play his first game as a Juventus player after arriving on loan from Schalke this past summer. The injury concerns and the extended period of time he’s already missed this season makes you wonder if Juventus are having any kind of regrets when it comes to signing him and how much all of this puts his future at the club beyond this season in doubt.

You have to think they’re at least considering it.

Regardless of how Howedes may fit into the club, if he can’t get onto the field then there’s not a whole heck of a lot of reason to keep him around.

Maybe he does finally get healthy and play in more than one game before his next injury. I don’t know, really. It could be a great second half of the season where Howedes makes some kind of impact. But, right now, it doesn’t look all that great mainly because he can’t stay healthy for an extended period of time. And it’s pretty bad when you’re considering just a couple of weeks as an extended period of time.