Juventus Transfer News: Ekhator Injured in Friendly Against Basel; Luciano Spalletti Ready to Ask for Reinforcements

Juventus’s first game of the season—a friendly against Basel at St. Jakob-Park—ended in a 0-0 draw and left Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti with a number of concerns, who was forced to take out one of the new signings, Jeff Ekhator, in the 29th minute of the first half due to a muscle issue.

“He felt a problem, and to be on the safe side, I preferred to take him out,” Spalletti told reporters after a match that produced no goals but featured goalkeeper Mattia Perin, who played the second half (Di Gregorio started in goal) and saved a penalty kick by Philip Otele in the 58th minute. In the closing minutes, following the direct red card shown to Rossoblù goalkeeper Mirko Salvi (for a foul on Openda that denied him a goal), Juve played with a man advantage but failed to capitalize on it.

Beyond what happened on the field, the team’s limited offensive firepower is now a cause for concern: this is another reason why the coach from Certaldo, especially in light of Ekhator’s injury, is ready to push for a major acceleration in the transfer market to secure one or two signings in attack, with the well-known targets (Sorloth, Kolo Muani, and Pellegrino) still on the agenda, but a couple of surprise names like Balogun and Guirassy who could serve as a “Plan B.”

Juventus has five more friendly matches scheduled before kicking off the official season: on July 25, they’ll play away at Standard Liège, and on July 31 at the Juventus Training Center against Nice, before flying across the ocean to face Chelsea in Hong Kong on August 5, on the 8th against Inter in Perth, and on the 11th—still in the capital of Western Australia—against Palermo.