Report: Gonzalo Higuain expected to return to Italy this weekend

It’s understandable as to why a player from another country might be a little hesitant to return to Italy after spending the last handful of weeks back home. And in Gonzalo Higuain’s case, his reason fly back to Argentina was more than just escaping the escalating coronavirus pandemic in Italy. It was much, much important to him — so much so he did so during a time when people living in Italy weren’t allowed to leave the country during lockdown.

You could understand why Higuain would be questioning whether returning to Italy would truly be worth it — both because of his own personal health as well as what was going on in his family unit.

Three weeks after word surfaced that Higuain was having mixed feelings about coming back to Juventus upon resumption of play, those fears appear to be squashed. Or at least calmed down a little bit compared to where they once were.

According to Wednesday morning’s edition of Tuttosport, Higuain plans on flying back to Turin at some point this weekend — likely Friday night or Saturday — in preparation to rejoin his Juventus teammates for training after a stint in quarantine. This, obviously, would avert any kind of off-the-field drama that could potentially result in some kind of legal action for breach of contract or, even, a contract termination if he didn’t report back for training.

All the potential drama, reportedly won’t happen.

All the scrambling Juve would have to do if games do happen and Higuain didn’t report is a situation that appears to be something we won’t have to worry about.

Of course, it won’t be officially official until Higuain is stepping off his plane and onto ground in Turin once again.

Thank goodness.

When we heard that Higuain was legitimately concerned about returning to Italy whenever training was set to start up again, it made total sense. There was the coronavirus factor, but also the fact that his mother had fallen ill and so much of the future both in Italy and Argentina was a complete unknown. But, Tuttosport points out in its report Wednesday that Juventus’ management team has been in constant contact with Higuain, so it’s not like either side of the equation didn’t know how the other was feeling about everything.

There, at least for now, seems like there won’t be any kind of surprises or last-minute plans to scramble to get Higuain back on a flight to Italy because he had a change of heart. For that reason, it’s good that Juve have been in constant contact with Higuain because this is far from what you would consider a routine or simple kind of situation going on.