Federico Chiesa has, to the joy of everybody, started running again

Federico Chiesa spent the weekend in Monte Carlo with his pal and fellow Juventus attacker Dusan Vlahovic watching the Monaco GP. Chiesa, in a Juve polo and with his trademark smile on his face, Chiesa watched along with Vlahovic as Checo Perez got the win even though the two Juventinos in attendance had Ferrari rooting interests.

On Tuesday, Chiesa did something which might have gotten the blood pressure going just as much for a very different kind of reason.

Chiesa, everybody’s lovable and favorite Juventus winger, took a big step in his return from a knee injury that took half of his 2021-22 away from him. It was on one of the training fields at Continassa that Chiesa, fresh off his visit to Monte Carlo, began running again, likely the first time he has done so since that fateful night in Rome back in January — and he’s got the video to prove it, folks. The video you know you’ve been waiting for is right here:

It’s not a sprint. It’s nothing close to full speed. It’s most certainly a jog and nothing more than that because he’s still got months of working his way back up to full fitness. But to see Chiesa on that practice field again, running at whatever speed has been told to keep it to and taking another big step forward in his rehab from major knee surgery is something that is impossible to not love.

It’s been a little over four months since Chiesa underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL that he suffered on the absolute hellspace that is pitch at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It was the kind of injury that took a lot of steam out of Juve’s season as well as ending a campaign in which Chiesa was being tipped to make the leap from “really good” to “elite.” His season before his injury hadn’t been all that great, but

Now he’s back. Or least back running.

Only Chiesa and the Juventus training staff know when he can up the speed and make that jog a full-strided run and then a sprint. And hopefully Chiesa will update us again because these are the kinds of things we love to see — especially during a summer where we are about to be engulfed with transfer rumors.