Paul Pogba Injury Bad News for Juventus but Good for Stefano Sturaro

Two days after their biggest win of the campaign, Juventus returned to training, preparing for a meeting with the only team to record a victory over them in Serie A this term. Sunday sees the reigning champions welcome Genoa to Turin, and the Bianconeri will be looking to avenge that October defeat to Gian Piero Gasperini’s men.

Still on an understandable high thanks to their emphatic 3-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund, Massimiliano Allegri will need to refocus his players for that challenge, with their 14-point lead in the league table making that task even more difficult.

The coach suffered a further blow late on Thursday, with news breaking that Paul Pogba had torn a thigh muscle during that Champions League encounter. The midfielder left the game after just 27 minutes, and according to a statement on the club’s official website, the problem is worse than originally feared.

It stated that “a scan revealed a grade two myotendinous junction tear of his biceps femoris,” and Juventus believe he will now miss around 50 days with the injury. That effectively rules him out of both legs of their quarter-final, as well as some key Serie A meetings where the 22-year-old will be sorely missed.

Over the next month the Bianconeri face Lazio—currently as high as third in the league and in the midst of some impressive form—as well as Sampdoria and the derby against city rivals Torino. Fortunately, the fixture list has been kind to Juve, with the other games over that period relatively straightforward clashes with the likes of Cagliari, Empoli and Parma.

Pogba will of course be sorely missed, his dynamic play is a major feature of the side under Allegri, and he has weighed in with eight goals and two assists in all competitions. He works hard without the ball too, with figures from stats site WhoScored.com showing he has averaged 2.5 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game in 2014-15.

As was discussed in depth in this previous column, the Frenchman has shown much improvement this term, improving every facet of his game and blossoming into one of the most promising midfielders in the world. Such players are exceptionally rare who are capable of winning matches single-handedly, as he did recently against Sassuolo—a match reviewed in detail here.

His displays have seen his potential transfer fee sky rocket in recent months, and although Juventus will hope to keep him this summer, his agent has openly discussed a potential move. “Everyone says he is the player with the most potential they’ve ever seen,” Mino Raiola told L’Equipe this week, going on to add that “no-one knows Paul’s real value” (h/t Football Italia).

Asked about a world record fee for his client, Raiola also said that "if someone likes Pogba it could be €100 million, €120 million, €130 million,” and that is a sum Juventus would find almost impossible to refuse should one of Europe’s mega clubs make such a bid.

Yet there is also the problem of who will replace Pogba in the immediate, with Andrea Pirlo yet to return from his own injury, missing since the first meeting with Borussia Dortmund. Stefano Sturaro is expected to return soon, and Allegri believes he could be the man to step up, discussing the former Genoa midfielder’s ability at a recent press conference.

Noting that the 22-year-old “has integrated well, is training well,” the Juventus coach then said in his press conference that he could comfortably fill a number of roles. “Sturaro can fill Marchisio’s role in front of the defence, or can play where Pogba does,” Allegri told reporters, and it seems he will now get that opportunity.

A very different player to his new team-mate, WhoScored shows that Sturaro has averaged more tackles (2.3 per game) and interceptions (1.2) per game than Pogba. His injury will drastically change the way the Juventus midfield operates, but it should see Sturaro earn some much-needed playing time.