Juventus rule out ankle fracture for Fabio Miretti after injury in Salernitana win

The reaction from Fabio Miretti as he writhed in pain on the Stadio Arechi turf Tuesday night suggested that there was going to be bad news on the horizon. You don’t have that kind of reaction, get stretchered off as your hands are over your face and have good thoughts flowing through your mind about what’s in store come the exams the next day.

Those scans happened Wednesday morning. And, things went better than expected.

Juventus announced following Miretti’s trip to J Medical that the 19-year-old midfielder has avoided any fracture to the ankle he inured late in the first half of the win over Salernitana. It is, at least in part, a sense of relief considering what the initial fear was even though first reports from those in Salerno stated that it was indeed an ankle sprain but with the caveat that more would be known once scans were done. Those scans are now completed and Miretti — who was on crutches as he left J Medical on Wednesday — can now deal with his first injury at the senior level since bursting onto the scene last spring.

The official update on Miretti posted to Juventus’ website:

After spraining his ankle in the match against Salernitana, Fabio Miretti underwent radiological examinations this morning at J|Medical, which ruled out any fractures. Miretti will begin the process of rehabilitation aimed at resuming competitive activity.

You will notice a couple of things that are missing: the severity of the ankle sprain that Miretti suffered and, just as important, how long he will be out of action for.

It could be a few weeks. It could be more than that. At this point, because Juventus has yet to say just how serious the sprain to Miretti’s ankle truly is, there’s no timetable for just how soon he could be back into the squad at a time in which losing another midfielder to injury is less than desirable. It does seem rather safe to assume that Miretti will miss at least the first leg of the Europa League playoff against Nantes next Thursday.

With Miretti joining Paul Pogba and Leandro Paredes on the injury on the injury list, Juventus could have just three healthy center midfielders available for Sunday’s game against Fiorentina: Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Fagioli and Adrien Rabiot. Paredes is the only one of the three injured midfielders who could return to the squad to face La Viola.

Miretti has appeared in 23 games n all competitions this season, with 18 of those coming in Serie A play. He has yet to score a goal at the senior level while recording one assist this season.