Giuntoli provides updates on Milik’s recovery, weighs in on Man United striker | OneFootball

Juventus Director of Football Cristiano Giuntoli revealed when he expects Arkadiusz Milik to make his return to action.

The Polish striker has been ruled out by an injury since June, preventing him from participating in Euro 2024. While the Bianconeri were hoping to have him at Thiago Motta’s disposal by October, he still felt pain in the knee, which warranted another surgery.

With Milik out of the pitcture, Juventus have been solely relying on Dusan Vlahovic up front. The Serbian striker has been forced to work extra shifts, and when he himself had suffered an injury in previous weeks, Motta had to resort to unconventional solutions like Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie, which bore little success.

Nevertheless, Giuntoli has once again ruled out any January reinforcement for the attacking department, as the club expects Milik to make his return in a matter of weeks, but will instead focus on signing a new defender.

“At the moment we are not thinking about selling but about inserting something in defense. We want to keep everyone and do something at the back and wait for everyone to return,” said the 52-year-old in his interview with Sky Sport Italia (via IlBianconero) ahead of Saturday’s contest against Venezia which ended in a disappointing 2-2 draw.

“Milik has started to play a bit, we are happy, the knee is not causing problems. But he will recover in 15-20 days.”

On the other hand, Giuntoli remained coy on Joshua Zirkzee who is reportedly unhappy at Manchester United following a slow start to his Premier League experience.

“We are waiting for Milik, Zirkzee is very good but he plays for another team. I cannot say anything else and we are thinking about something completely different.”

The Dutchman rose to stardom last season under the tutelage of Thiago Motta at Bologna, so some reports have been envisioning a reunion between the two men in Turin.