AC Milan face Juventus in a Serie A showdown on Sunday night, and Stefano Pioli has had largely positive news on the injury front this week.
The Rossoneri resume the campaign following the international break with a difficult assignment against Massimiliano Allegri’s side, and so in order to have the best possible chance of securing three valuable points, Pioli would have been hoping for good news in terms of fitness updates.
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As per Antonio Vitiello, the Milan boss has received a significant boost with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Rade Krunic, Noah Okafor and Pierre Kalulu all participating in part of group training on Wednesday, before resuming their personalised work.
That in turn is an important development in their respective recoveries, and it’s hoped that all four of them will be in contention to feature this weekend in order to strengthen not only our starting XI, but our options off the bench too.
Should both Loftus-Cheek and Krunic be available though, it will present a positive selection headache for Pioli, particularly with Yunus Musah impressing in their absence.
As a result, it will be fascinating to see who gets the nod and is considered as the best options in midfield for the upcoming game, while Okafor and Kalulu will likely be on the bench and will add important depth ahead of a hectic schedule.
Following the visit of Juventus on Sunday, Milan travel to face Paris Saint-Germain in a crunch Champions League clash on Wednesday night, before heading to Napoli next weekend.
In turn, it’s vital we get our full squad back as soon as possible, and hopefully that quartet named above will be the first to hand us timely boosts.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t all good news on the injury front, as Vitiello also reported that Samuel Chukwueze picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty, and so he may now likely miss time as a result of that setback.
Although the 24-year-old has struggled to get going this season after his summer arrival, he still offers a different dynamic and option in the final third on the right side, and so it will be a blow if he’s sidelined.
Nevertheless, with Christian Pulisic in good form to start the campaign, that will be less of a concern for now, and it’s hoped that we continue to get good news moving forward on players returning from injury.