OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Rodrigo Bentancur recovers from COVID-19

Juventus’ lone senior team COVID-19 case is now officially in the past.

Juventus announced Friday that midfield Rodrigo Bentancur, out of the lineup for the past two weeks due to testing positive for the coronavirus on March 4, has tested negative and is now able to play once again. Bentancur, who was reported to be asymptomatic when he went into isolation, was a part of the part of the team’s full training session later in the day after testing negative.

The official statement from Juventus’ website:

Rodrigo Bentancur has undergone, as per protocol, two controlled checks with a molecular test (swab) for Covid-19 that have given negative results. The player has therefore recovered and is no longer subjected to the isolation regime and joined the team today at the JTC.

As tough as Bentancur’s season been, this is the best news he’s gotten in weeks, if not longer than that. And, you never know, maybe the time away from the field was something that he needed just from a mental aspect. As you can see from the photo above, he was rather happy to be back at training Friday.

Bentancur’s original positive test came during a depth crunch when Juve’s options to play were down to what felt like just 11 options and a couple of backup goalkeepers, with the rest of the squad being filled out by Under-23 and primavera players. That situation has gotten better between then and now, but his return — regardless of form — will be a welcome sight for Andrea Pirlo simply due to the fact that Aaron Ramsey’s health is anything but certain from week to week and Weston McKennie was not included in the United States’ roster for the upcoming international break due to his own injury situation.