Kwadwo Asamoah has been missing from the Juventus lineup for a long, long time.
The player's last appearance in Juve colors was in November of last year when he had picked up a career-threatening knee injury at the time, which resulted in him getting hyaline cartilage surgery done in December.
Here's the club's brief statement, courtesy of juventus.com, from back in December:
"While his team-mates were out training, Kwadwo Asamoah was in Barcelona to undergo arthroscopic surgery designed to fix torn cartilage in his left knee. Operated on by Dr. Cugat and accompanied by club doctor Causarano, the Ghanaian is expected to return to competitive action within three to four months."
That original recovery timeline has been pushed back several times, with the player finally making it back to Vinovo in the earlier part of September. Asamoah featured in a warmup game for Juve too, against fifth division side Cheraschese on the 4th of September.The Bianconeri won 3-1 with goals from Alvaro Morata, Dybala and Stefano Pellini.
Asamoah was supposed to have returned to training with his teammates, but his delayed return to the pitch resulted in Juventus being forced to exclude him from the UEFA Champions League squad list which was due on September 1st. Since then he has been training with his teammates but was mysteriously not named in the squad for last weekend's game at Genoa.
There are a couple of possibilities for the versatile player when he does make it back into the team. The signing of Alex Sandro during the summer mercato means he most likely will not be used in the left wingback position again. With both Claudio Marchisio out again and no sign of Sami Khedira returning to the lineup anytime soon, there are certain sections of the Bianconeri fanbase clamoring for the Ghanaian to slot in at the regista position.
However, debutant and new signing Mario Lemina looked very composed in the middle of the park against Genoa so the pressure is off Massimiliano Allegri for the time being to use Asamoah in that role, in the Seria A at least since Asamoah is not even in the Champions League squad.
To add more mystery, unsubstantiated rumours circulating are that Juve could be pursuing a swap deal with AC Milan in January for Asamoah with Nigel de Jong in the January transfer window. Putting aside your opinions of the Dutchman in the Old Lady's colours, getting an enforcer feels like a throwback to the days of Felipe Melo and the consecutive seventh-place finishes.
So what are your thoughts, where would you like to see Kwadwo Asamoah line-up for Juventus again, if at all?
Credit:Â Black & White & Read All Over?Â