Gatti is back as Motta delivers Juventus fitness update before the Napoli game

Gatti is back as Motta delivers Juventus fitness update before the Napoli game

Thiago Motta has confirmed that Federico Gatti has regained fitness and will be available for Juventus’ match against Napoli this weekend.

During Juventus’ game against PSV, Danilo replaced the Italian centre-back after Gatti appeared to be dealing with some physical discomfort. The Bianconeri decided to substitute him to prevent the issue from worsening.

Now fully recovered, Gatti is fit to play. In his latest fitness update, Motta revealed that the defender is available for selection.

He said, as quoted by Football Italia:

“Fede is available, but only Conceiçao and Arek [Milik] will not be available tomorrow.

“All the others are available and can start. Fede trained well yesterday, and he’ll be in the group.”

Juve FC Says

It feels great to have Gatti back because he has been a pillar in our defence since the start of the season.

Some fans expected him to struggle to get game time when Motta became the club’s manager, but he has defied the odds and has started many games for us.

The manager has decided to trust him, and if he starts against Napoli, he will improve our chance of keeping a clean sheet in the fixture.

Juventus did not sign a backup for Dusan Vlahovic during the last transfer window, and they plan to rely on the injured Arkadiusz Milik as their alternative striker once he is fit.

However, with the Polish striker currently unavailable, they need to identify another player who can step in as a backup to Vlahovic.

While Vlahovic is one of the top strikers in Europe, he has struggled recently and could benefit from being rested.

With Juventus competing in at least four tournaments this season, they know that Vlahovic cannot feature in every match. As a result, Thiago Motta has been experimenting with Nicolas Gonzalez as a striker during training.

The Argentine is a skilled goal scorer and could provide valuable support in a central role if Vlahovic is unavailable.

Asked if he has been preparing for that role, Gonzalez said, as quoted by Calciomercato:

“Me as a Vlahovic assistant? We work on this every day too. However, in our attack, one plays on the right, one on the left, and one strikes. We have great players, the one who doesn’t start, is ready to come in from the outside and change the pace of the game. We’re working hard every day, that’s the idea”