Paul Pogba returns to partial training, but full return date still an unknown

Outside of the first half of Juventus’ friendly against Chivas in Las Vegas, there hasn’t been many opportunities to see Paul Pogba around his teammates so far this season.

That’s not something you expect to see written two months into his return to Juve, but that’s just what happens when you get injured in the first training session following the Vegas friendly and then go about the rehab process like Pogba did.

But come Tuesday, Pogba was back on the training grounds at Continassa for the first time since undergoing knee surgery to hopefully finally clear up his meniscus injury that he suffered back in July. It was just in a partial capacity, but getting Pogba back on the field is just a step closer to Max Allegri getting his most important midfielder back into the squad after months of waiting.

With the return of Federico Chiesa to partial training earlier this month, Allegri can now say that his two biggest weapons who have yet to appear in a game this season are most certainly getting closer and closer to their respective returns. Obviously Chiesa is a different case because his injury has had a much longer and different kind of rehab process, but it doesn’t seem out of the equation that we could be seeing both of them return to the matchday squad within the next couple of weeks.

Italian media continues to maintain that Pogba is aiming to return for Juventus’ Champions League matchup with Benfica next week on Oct. 25. Just how much Pogba could get his match fitness up between now and then is probably what determines his status. And with Juve’s current situation in the group with advancement to the Champions League knockout rounds looking very unlikely, rushing Pobga back into the squad with a weeks worth of training doesn’t really sound all that great.

Of course, that’s just one guy’s opinion.

But, at the very least, Pogba is back. So is Chiesa. They’re not back in competitive matches just yet, but that time seems to be fast approaching. And hopefully that means Juventus will start to look a little bit more like the squad some of us thought they could be back in the summer months.