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Five ways in which Giorgio Chiellini’s injury impacts Juventus

By John Vaccaro

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini (3) kisses the Serie A soccer title trophy after the Serie A football match n.38 JUVENTUS - VERONA on 19/05/2018 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini (3) kisses the Serie A soccer title trophy after the Serie A football match n.38 JUVENTUS - VERONA on 19/05/2018 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – AUGUST 10: Matthijs de Ligt of Juventus during a match in the International Champions Cup between Atletico de Madrid and Juventus FC at Friends Arena on August 10, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – AUGUST 10: Matthijs de Ligt of Juventus during a match in the International Champions Cup between Atletico de Madrid and Juventus FC at Friends Arena on August 10, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images) /

More pressure on Matthijs de Ligt

One big impact of Giorgio Chiellini’s injury is that it will quickly thrust new signing, Matthijs de Ligt, right into the spotlight at Juventus. Before Chiellini’s injury, de Ligt was just going to be Juve’s second center back and if he was just an improvement from Leonardo Bonucci last season and continued to grow as a player, fans would have been happy.

Now, he has to be “the guy” right now. Without Giorgio Chiellini available to play alongside him, he will need to be the replacement for him right off the bat. Now he is the centerpiece of the defense and with that comes raised expectations.

We’ve already gotten to see some of the expectations expressed by fans in the aftermath of the Napoli matchup. There is no denying that his performance in the second half was pretty horrible, but there were a lot of factors that went into that. It was his debut with a new club after a massive transfer, so some first match jitters should have been expected.

The fact that it was his debut also meant that he has had absolutely no chance to develop any chemistry with the rest of the defense and he still isn’t in form at this point in the season. The fact that he doesn’t even speak the same language as the rest of Juve’s defense likely just made matters worse for him in this match. Still, fans were quick to demolish him on the internet because of the massive expectations that have gotten even larger since Chiellini went down.

I have no doubt that he can eventually live up to these standards that many of us are holding him to, but the fact that it will now be expected of him right away is just unfair to him.

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