Merih Demiral to miss three weeks due to muscle injury

In case you feel like we’ve been down this kind of road plenty enough this season even though it’s only the second week of March, you’re not crazy. Juventus, despite being arguably the deepest team in Serie A, has also been one of the hardest hit teams by the injury bug in the league, with

Add another one to that graph linked above.

Juventus announced Thursday that central defender Merih Demiral will be out for the next 20 days due to a muscle injury he suffered during Tuesday’s second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 tie against Porto. Based on the recent track record of the timetables the club has laid out for their injuries, who knows when Demiral — a central character in the end result of Juve being dumped out of the Champions League once again — will actually be back, but at least we know a ballpark time of when he suffered the injury against Porto.

The statement from Juve’s official website:

Merih Demiral, due to a problem related at the end of the match against Porto, was subjected to radiological examinations at J | Medical which revealed a low-grade lesion of the rectus femoris muscle of the right thigh. His recovery time will be approximately 20 days.

With Giorgio Chiellini still playing the called-up-but-not-playing kind of role after his latest injury, that means Juventus’ center back depth is basically Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt, with Danilo and Alex Sandro there to fill in as well. The fixture list the rest of the season is not going to be what it was in January and February with Juventus no longer playing in Europe, so that means the depth issues aren’t as pressing as they would be if they’re still playing three games within the span of seven or eight days.

But, it’s just another injury in a season full of injuries. And Demiral, a player who is still one with plenty to prove, is now going to be out for the better part of the next month. That’s not exactly great to hear.